- happening before a more important action or event synonym initial
- After a few preliminary remarks he announced the winners.
- preliminary results/findings/enquiries
- the preliminary rounds of the contest
- preliminary to something pilot studies preliminary to a full-scale study
Oxford Collocations DictionaryPreliminary is used with these nouns:- approval
- conclusion
- conference
- …
Word Originmid 17th cent.: from modern Latin praeliminaris or French préliminaire, from Latin prae ‘before’ + limen, limin- ‘threshold’.Want to learn more?
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preliminary