What does "preheat" mean?

The act of heating before another process.

What is a synonym for "preheat"?

Common synonyms include: chafe, cook, electric-heat, fire, fire up, foment.

//pɹiːˈhiːt// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The act of heating before another process. uncountable
"The ratio of preheat to postheat is often important and can produce significant differences in speed and economy of coating and in the end result. The authors show the relationship between these variables for a vinyl coating powder on objects of varying mass."

Verb

1
To heat beforehand or in advance, to heat something in preparation for further action. transitive
"to preheat the oven for the casserole"
2
heat beforehand wordnet

"Preheat the oven to 400°F. Brush the inside of a large soufflé dish with 2 tablespoons of softened butter."

From pre- + heat.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.