preliminary

English

Alternative forms

• præliminary (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin praelīmināris, formed from prae- (“before”) + līmen (“threshold”) + -āris (adjectival suffix); compare Latin līmināris (“of or belonging to a threshold”). Compare French préliminaire.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: prĭlĭmʹĭnəri, IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈlɪmɪn(ə)ɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: prĭlĭmʹĭnĕri, IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈlɪmɪnɛɹi/, /pɹiˈlɪmɪnɛɹi/

Adjective

preliminary (not comparable)

1. In preparation for the main matter; initial, introductory, preparatory.

   Synonyms: initial, introductory, preparatory

   Antonyms: definitive, final

   These are just the preliminary results.

   • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:

     And then, after a few preliminary tries, the whole farm burst out into 'Beasts of England' in tremendous unison.

   • 2025 April 28, Kate Travis, “Experiment using AI-generated posts on Reddit draws fire for ethics concerns”, in Retraction Watch‎^[1], archived from the original on 10 June 2025:

     The Zurich group has shared a preliminary writeup of its findings.

   • 2025 October 20, Nick Miroff, “ICE’s ‘Athletically Allergic’ Recruits”, in The Atlantic‎^[2], archived from the original on 20 October 2025:

     An email from ICE headquarters to the agency’s top officials on October 5 lamented that “a considerable amount of athletically allergic candidates” had been showing up to the academy; they had “misrepresented” their physical condition on application forms. The email directed leaders at ICE’s field offices to conduct preliminary fitness exams with new recruits before sending them to the academy.

Derived terms

• nonpreliminary
• postpreliminary
• preliminarily
• preliminary considerations
• preliminary examination
• preliminary injunction
• preliminary results
• preliminary ruling

Translations

in preparation for the main matter

• Azerbaijani: ilkin, ibtidai, ilk
• Bulgarian: предварителен (bg) (predvaritelen), подготвителен (bg) (podgotvitelen)
• Catalan: preliminar
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 初步 (zh) (chūbù), 預備 / 预备 (zh) (yùbèi)

• Czech: předběžný (cs) m
• Dutch: voorbereidend (nl)
• Finnish: alustava (fi), preliminaarinen, esi- (fi)
• French: préliminaire (fr)
• Galician: preliminar
• Georgian: წინასწარი (c̣inasc̣ari)
• German: vorläufig (de), vorbereitend (de)
• Hungarian: előzetes (hu)
• Irish: réamh- (prefix)
• Italian: preliminare (it)
• Japanese: 予備的 (ja) (よびてき, yobiteki)
• Korean: 예비의 (yebiui)
• Lithuanian: preliminarus
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: preliminær, foreløpig (no)

  Nynorsk: preliminær, foreløpig

• Occitan: preliminar (oc)
• Polish: wstępny (pl) m
• Portuguese: preliminar (pt)
• Romanian: introductiv (ro) m or n, preliminar (ro) m or n, pregătitor (ro) m or n
• Russian: предвари́тельный (ru) (predvarítelʹnyj), подготови́тельный (ru) (podgotovítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: preliminar (es)
• Swedish: preliminär (sv)
• Turkish: geçici (tr), ilk (tr), ön (tr), öncü (tr)
• Welsh: rhagarweiniol (cy)

Noun

preliminary (plural preliminaries)

1. A preparation for a main matter; an introduction.
   • 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)‎^[3]:

     In the Chinese novels, often of a very literary character, devoted to masculine love, it seems that all the preliminaries and transports of normal love are to be found, while physical union may terminate the scene.

2. Any of a series of sports events that determine the finalists.
3. A relatively minor contest that precedes a major one, especially in boxing.

Translations

introduction

• Finnish: johdatus (fi); johdanto (fi)

any of a series of sports

• Finnish: karsinta (fi), karsintaottelu
• Irish: réamhbhabhta m
• Japanese: 予選 (ja) (よせん, yosen)

minor contest before major one

• Finnish: lämmittelyottelu