as in preparatory
coming before the main part or item usually to introduce or prepare for what follows
in prefatory remarks he offered his own definition of "civilization", a word subject to a variety of interpretations
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Examples of prefatory in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
As the author’s prefatory note indicates, the book centers on the discovery, in 2001, of an unidentified Black boy’s remains in the River Thames.
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Gboyega Odubanjo, The New Yorker, 24 June 2024
As Chin writes in a prefatory author’s note, her family’s history traveled down to her primarily via oral history.
—Rhoda Feng, Washington Post, 27 Apr. 2023
But even before her characters intersect, familiar objects — a dreidel, nesting dolls, exquisitely carved chess pieces — keep popping up in prefatory monologues and the stories themselves.
—Julia M. Klein, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023
Venice opens with a prefatory poem recalling a trip from Beirut to Cyprus, the birthplace of Aphrodite.
—Dan Chiasson, The New York Review of Books, 7 Sep. 2022
What might have gone down as an odd concert experience was energized by Taylor’s prefatory joke inviting us to imagine FBI agents singing this song during their recent search at Mar-a-Lago.
—W. Anthony Sheppard, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Aug. 2022
After this prefatory video ends, a door automatically slides open, giving access to a chamber that evokes the exterior of Tut’s royal tomb, the only largely intact one ever found in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.
—Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 23 June 2022
These prefatory remarks are by way of setting up the following chronology — without any claims of causation.
—Bryan A. Garner, National Review, 17 Feb. 2022
The chronicle that results, as Mitenbuler explains in a prefatory note, also appears at a moment when, for the first time in the history of the form, everything is available.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2020
Gboyega Odubanjo, The New Yorker, 24 June 2024
As Chin writes in a prefatory author’s note, her family’s history traveled down to her primarily via oral history.
—Rhoda Feng, Washington Post, 27 Apr. 2023
But even before her characters intersect, familiar objects — a dreidel, nesting dolls, exquisitely carved chess pieces — keep popping up in prefatory monologues and the stories themselves.
—Julia M. Klein, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023
Venice opens with a prefatory poem recalling a trip from Beirut to Cyprus, the birthplace of Aphrodite.
—Dan Chiasson, The New York Review of Books, 7 Sep. 2022
What might have gone down as an odd concert experience was energized by Taylor’s prefatory joke inviting us to imagine FBI agents singing this song during their recent search at Mar-a-Lago.
—W. Anthony Sheppard, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Aug. 2022
After this prefatory video ends, a door automatically slides open, giving access to a chamber that evokes the exterior of Tut’s royal tomb, the only largely intact one ever found in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.
—Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 23 June 2022
These prefatory remarks are by way of setting up the following chronology — without any claims of causation.
—Bryan A. Garner, National Review, 17 Feb. 2022
The chronicle that results, as Mitenbuler explains in a prefatory note, also appears at a moment when, for the first time in the history of the form, everything is available.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prefatory.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Prefatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prefatory. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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