prælude

Noun

prelude (plural preludes)

1. An introductory or preliminary performance or event.
   • Adam Schiff, a Democratic senator from California, called it a “very dangerous escalation and a prelude to potential conflict”.2025 December 11, Joseph Gedeon, quoting Adam Schiff, “US lawmakers condemn seizure of Venezuelan oil tanker: ‘Trump is sleepwalking us into a war’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms:

   preface

2. A short, free-form piece of music, originally one serving as an introduction to a longer and more complex piece; later, starting with the Romantic period, generally a stand-alone piece.

   Synonyms:

   intrada, overture

3. A standard module or library of subroutines and functions to be imported, generally by default, into a program.
   • In the same way that Rust has a general prelude that brings certain types and functions into scope automatically, the std::io module has its own prelude of common types and functions you'll need when working with I/O.2018, Steve Klabnik, Carol Nichols, The Rust Programming Language, No Starch Press, →ISBN, page 232
4. (figuratively) A forerunner to anything.
   • Swimmings of the head and intestinal pains seemed the prelude of dissolution.1869, William Chambers, Robert Chambers, Chambers's Miscellany of Instructive & Entertaining Tracts, page 2

See all 6 meanings of prelude