Word.ws English Dictionary

prefatory

/ˈpɹɛfət(ə)ɹi/US/ˈpɹɛfəˌtɔɹi/

prefatory adjective: serving as a preface or prelude; introductory, preliminary.

Adjective

prefatory (comparative more prefatory, superlative most prefatory)

  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.1868 January 4 – June 6, [William] Wilkie Collins, “First Period. The Loss of the Diamond (1848). […]”, in The Moonstone. A Romance. […], volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1868...
    • The "5th Mo. (May) 1939" issue of Bradshaw's Railway Shipping, and Hotel Guide for Great Britain and Ireland appears in a cream cover printed in blue and gold, and a prefatory note explains that, as 1939 is being celebrated as the centenary year of Bradshaw, it is intended to adopt this livery from...1939 June, “Railway Literature: Bradshaw's Guide”, in Railway Magazine, page 465

prefatory meaning in Bengali and Malayalam

prefatory in Bengali

introductory
পরিচায়ক poricaẏok

prefatory in Malayalam

opening, introductory, preliminary
മുന്നോടിയായ, പ്രാഥമിക, പ്രാവേശികം, പ്രായണീയ, പ്രാരംഭകമായ, മുഖവുരയായ

Forms of prefatory

comparativemore prefatory
superlativemost prefatory
alternative formpræfatory

Origin of prefatory

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.

Words formed from prefatory

Questions about prefatory

What does prefatory mean?
Prefatory means serving as a preface or prelude; introductory, preliminary.
What is prefatory in Bengali?
Prefatory in Bengali is পরিচায়ক (poricaẏok). See Prefatory meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is prefatory?
Prefatory is an adjective.
How do you pronounce prefatory?
Prefatory is pronounced /ˈpɹɛfət(ə)ɹi/ (UK).

Words near prefatory in the dictionary

  1. prefatial
  2. prefatigue
  3. prefatigued
  4. prefatorial
  5. prefatorily
  6. prefatory
  7. prefeasibility
  8. prefeast
  9. prefeasts
  10. prefect
  11. prefecthood

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prefatory (page history and authors); prefatory (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset 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.

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Cite this entry: “prefatory.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prefatory. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.