Phrase guide

front matter

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Within a book, all preliminary content preceding the main text.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • Meronyms: acknowledgements, copyright page, dedication, edition notice, foreword, frontispiece, half title, introduction, preface, prologue, table of contents, title page

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: forematter, prelims

Antonyms: back matter, end matter

2

noun

Meaning 2

written matter preceding the main text of a book

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: prelims

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: matter

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

9 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: voorwerk — parts of a book that appear before the text
  • Dutch: preliminaria — parts of a book that appear before the text
  • French: pages liminaires — parts of a book that appear before the text
  • German: Titelei — parts of a book that appear before the text
  • Italian: preliminari — parts of a book that appear before the text
  • Portuguese: matéria pré-textual — parts of a book that appear before the text
  • Portuguese: elementos pré-textuais — parts of a book that appear before the text
  • Portuguese: pré-texto — parts of a book that appear before the text
  • Spanish: texto preliminar — parts of a book that appear before the text