Standard Lemma guide

prefatory

adj · 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɹɛfət(ə)ɹi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈpɹɛfəˌtɔɹi/

1

adj

Meaning 1

Serving as a preface or prelude; introductory, preliminary.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

serving as an introduction or preface

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: introductory, prefatorial

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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.

Across languages

Translations

19 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bengali: পরিচায়ক (poricaẏok) — introductory
  • Bulgarian: уводен (uvoden) — introductory
  • Bulgarian: встъпителен (vstǎpitelen) — introductory
  • Chinese Mandarin: 前言的 (qiányán de) — introductory
  • Chinese Mandarin: 序言性的) (xùyánxìng de) — introductory
  • Finnish: alustava — introductory
  • Finnish: alku- — introductory
  • French: préfatoire — introductory
  • German: präponierend — introductory
  • German: vorangestellt — introductory
  • Polish: wstępny — introductory
  • Polish: inauguracyjny — introductory
  • Portuguese: prefatório — introductory
  • Russian: вво́дный (vvódnyj) — introductory
  • Russian: вступи́тельный (vstupítelʹnyj) — introductory
  • Spanish: introductorio — introductory
  • Spanish: prefatorio — introductory
  • Swedish: inlednings- — introductory
  • Swedish: inledande — introductory