Prefatory
adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Serving as a preface or prelude; introductory, preliminary.
"We must begin by showing how the Diamond first fell into the hands of my uncle Herncastle, when he was serving in India fifty years since. This prefatory narrative I have already got by me in the form of an old family paper, which relates the necessary particulars on the authority of an eye-witness."
- 1 serving as an introduction or preface wordnet
Example
More examples"We must begin by showing how the Diamond first fell into the hands of my uncle Herncastle, when he was serving in India fifty years since. This prefatory narrative I have already got by me in the form of an old family paper, which relates the necessary particulars on the authority of an eye-witness."
Etymology
From Medieval Latin *praefator + -ory (“agent”), from Medieval Latin prefatia (whence preface), for classical Latin praefatio (“a saying beforehand”) – see preface for details. Note that this is borrowed from Latin, not derived in English from preface, as in occasional misspelling *prefecatory.
More for "prefatory"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.