prelude
noun/ˈpreljuːd/
/ˈpreljuːd/
- a short piece of music, especially an introduction to a longer piece
- the prelude to Act II
- J S Bach’s preludes and fugues
Extra ExamplesTopics Musicc2- ‘The Magnificat’ opens with a long organ prelude.
- The theme recalls the prelude to Wagner's ‘Lohengrin’.
- seven preludes for piano
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- instrumental
- orchestral
- organ
- …
- open with
- prelude for
- prelude to
- prelude (to something) an action or event that happens before another more important one and forms an introduction to it
- This is just a prelude to a larger attack.
Extra Examples- Every life is but a prelude to a death.
- He considered the strikes a prelude to the great socialist revolution.
- This analysis will serve as a prelude to a more extended examination.
- a necessary prelude to privatization
- events held as a prelude to the Christmas festivities
- the fear that any peace was merely a prelude to war
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- essential
- inevitable
- necessary
- …
- serve as
- consider something
- see something as
- …
- as a prelude
- prelude for
- prelude to
- …
- a prelude to war
- be but a prelude to something
- be just a prelude to something
- …
Word Originmid 16th cent.: from French prélude, from medieval Latin praeludium, from Latin praeludere ‘play beforehand’, from prae ‘before’ + ludere ‘to play’.
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prelude