preliminary

 
Pronunciation: /prɪˈlɪmɪn(ə)ri/

adjective

  • preceding or done in preparation for something fuller or more important: a preliminary draft the discussions were seen as preliminary to the policy paper

noun (plural preliminaries)

  • a preliminary action or event: the bombardment was resumed as a preliminary to an infantry attack
  • (preliminaries) business or talk, especially of a formulaic or polite nature, taking place before an action or event: she began speaking, without preliminaries
  • a preliminary round in a sporting competition.
  • (preliminaries) the prelims of a text.

Phrases

preliminary to

preparatory to; in advance of.

Derivatives

preliminarily

adverb

Origin:

mid 17th century: from modern Latin praeliminaris or French préliminaire, from Latin prae 'before' + limen, limin- 'threshold'