pre-

¹ American  

Also prae-

1. a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, where it meant “before” (preclude; prevent ); applied freely as a prefix, with the meanings “prior to,” “in advance of,” “early,” “beforehand,” “before,” “in front of,” and with other figurative meanings (preschool; prewar; prepay; preoral; prefrontal ).

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P.R.E. ² American  

abbreviation

1. Petroleum Refining Engineer.

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pre- British  

prefix

1. before in time, rank, order, position, etc

   predate

   pre-eminent

   premeditation

   prefrontal

   preschool

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Etymology

Origin of pre-

< Latin prae-, prefixal use of prae (preposition and adv.); akin to first, fore-, prior ¹, pro ¹

Example Sentences

Three hours might seem a stretch for this subject, but with the Walden period bookended by the lesser known pre- and post-Walden years, it stays interesting all along.

From Los Angeles Times

In contrast to the pre-2008 period, large U.S. banks now are operating from a position of strength, supported by more than a decade of regulatory reform and oversight.

From MarketWatch

“We’re seeing a growing investor view that CPU-driven server demand may be more resilient than previously expected, driven both by general enterprise-server refresh but also the need for CPUs around AI infrastructure where they’re required to orchestrate workloads, manage data movement and handle pre/post-processing tasks,” Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.

From MarketWatch

Rosenior's coaching staff had been warned to tell the players not to huddle before the Newcastle match, but this instruction was ignored, leading to referee Paul Tierney standing in the middle of captain James' pre‑match pep talk in bizarre scenes.

From BBC

Perhaps most infamous: the 1997 segment where a child portrayed by a pre–Sixth Sense Haley Joel Osment reveals to another character that “Walker told me I have AIDS.”

From Slate