prefatory

prefatory

English

Alternative forms

• præfatory (obsolete)

Etymology

From Medieval Latin *praefator +‎ -ory (“agent”), from Medieval Latin prefatia (whence preface), for classical Latin praefatio (“a saying beforehand”) – see preface for details.[1]

Note that this is borrowed from Latin, not derived in English from preface, as in occasional misspelling *prefecatory.

Adjective

prefatory (comparative more prefatory, superlative most prefatory)

1. Introductory, preliminary, serving as a prelude or preface. [from 1670s]

Usage notes

Rather formal and academic – preliminary is less formal, while introductory is less formal still. A casual alternative is to use some form of start, as in “To start…” or “Let me start by saying…”, as opposed to “By way of prefatory remarks…”.

Translations

introductory

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Bengali: পরিচায়ক (pôricaẏôk) Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Finnish: alustava (fi), alku- French: préfatoire m German: please add this translation if you can

Italian: please add this translation if you can Persian: please add this translation if you can Portuguese: prefatório m Russian: please add this translation if you can Spanish: introductorio m, prefatorio Swedish: inlednings-, inledande (sv)

References

1. “prefatory” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

Anagrams

• foreparty