preliminary.

1. Taking place before the main procedure or final conclusion.

2. A stage or action that comes before the main activity.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• preliminary findings
• preliminary assessment

On the page

The preliminary findings justify a larger investigation.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Normally non-gradable; no ordinary comparative or superlative.. Noun singular preliminary; plural preliminaries. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, qualification. Commonness: moderately common.