preface
UK/ˈpɹɛfəs/
preface noun: a beginning or introductory portion that comes before the main text of a document or book, typically serving to contextualize or explain the writing of the book and sometimes to acknowledge others' contributions; especially, such a discussion written by the work's own author.
Noun (1)
preface (plural prefaces)
- A beginning or introductory portion that comes before the main text of a document or book, typically serving to contextualize or explain the writing of the book and sometimes to acknowledge others' contributions; especially, such a discussion written by the work's own author.
- Holonyms: front matter, prelims
- The book included a brief preface explaining the author's motivations for writing.
- An introduction, or series of preliminary remarks.
- This superficial tale / Is but a preface of her worthy praise.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Heav'ns high behest no preface needs.1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- A variable prayer forming the prelude or introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer or canon of the Mass, following the Sursum corda dialogue and leading into the Sanctus.
- Meronyms: protocol, embolism, eschatocol
- A title or epithet.
- […] a black-tie dinner to celebrate on the eve of the ceremony which would remove the preface "Sir" from his name and replace it with the preface "Lord," thought by some to be one of the most potent words in the English language.2008, W. Bruce Kippen, Lords of the Frontier
Verb
preface (third-person singular simple present prefaces, present participle prefacing, simple past and past participle prefaced)
Noun (2) capitalized: Preface
Preface (plural Prefaces)
- Alternative letter-case form of preface (“prayer before the canon of the Mass”).
preface meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu
preface in Hindi
- introduction before the main text
- प्रस्तावना prastāvnā
preface in Tamil
- முன்னுரை
preface in Urdu
- introduction before the main text
- دِیباچَہ dībāca, مُقَدَّمَہ muqaddama, تَمْہِید tamhīd
preface in Telugu
- introduction before the main text
- పీఠిక pīṭhika
More languagesFewer languages
- preface in Kannada
- ಮುನ್ನುಡಿ, ಮುನ್ನುಡಿಯು
- preface in Gujarati
- પ્રસ્તાવના prastāvnā, દીબાચો dībāco
- preface in Odia
- ମୁଖବନ୍ଧ
- preface in Tagalog
- pambungad
- preface in Arabic
- مُقَدِّمَة muqaddima
- preface in Malay
- mukadimah
- preface in Indonesian
- kata pengantar, sekapur sirih, mukadimah, prefasi
- preface in Thai
- คำนำ kam-nam
- preface in Vietnamese
- lời tựa
- preface in Myanmar
- နိဒါန်း ni.dan:
Examples of preface in a sentence
- This book features a preface by a well-known botanist, and an introduction by the author's mentor at university.
- You could hear it prefaced by Doctor or followed by MP.
- He prefaced his next song with a row of hard, multiphonic squawks, sounding like a truck horn.
Forms of preface
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | prefaces |
| alternative form | præface |
| alternative form | Preface |
| plural | Prefaces |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | prefaces |
| present participle | prefacing |
| past participle | prefaced |
| past | prefaced |
Origin of preface
Late 14th century, from Middle English preface, prefas, from Old French preface (from which derives the modern French préface), from Medieval Latin prefātia, for classical Latin praefātiō (“a saying beforehand”), from praefor (“to speak beforehand”), from prae- (“beforehand”) + for (“to speak”).
Words formed from preface
Questions about preface
- What does preface mean?
- Preface means a beginning or introductory portion that comes before the main text of a document or book, typically serving to contextualize or explain the writing of the book and sometimes to acknowledge others' contributions; especially, such a discussion written by the work's own author.
- What is preface in Hindi?
- Preface in Hindi is प्रस्तावना (prastāvnā). See Preface meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is preface?
- Preface can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce preface?
- Preface is pronounced /ˈpɹɛfəs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of preface?
- The plural of preface is prefaces.
Words near preface in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: preface (page history and authors); Preface (page history and authors); preface (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); preface (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); preface (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-preface.ogg.
Cite this entry: “preface.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/preface. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.