prelude
a preliminary to an action, event, condition, or work of broader scope and higher importance.
any action, event, comment, etc. that precedes something else.
Music.
a relatively short, independent instrumental composition, free in form and resembling an improvisation.
a piece that precedes a more important movement.
the overture to an opera.
an independent piece, of moderate length, sometimes used as an introduction to a fugue.
music opening a church service; an introductory voluntary.
to serve as a prelude or introduction to.
to introduce by a prelude.
to play as a prelude.
to serve as a prelude.
to give a prelude.
to play a prelude.
Origin of prelude
1Other words for prelude
Other words from prelude
- prel·ud·er, noun
- pre·lu·di·al [pri-loo-dee-uhl], /prɪˈlu di əl/, pre·lu·di·ous, adjective
- pre·lu·di·ous·ly, adverb
- un·prel·ud·ed, adjective
Words Nearby prelude
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use prelude in a sentence
Maybe, he hopes, acting well onstage will serve as a prelude to acting better in real life.
Ethan Hawke turns his acting experience — and past infidelities — into brilliant fiction | Ron Charles | February 2, 2021 | Washington PostMorell emphasized that SolarWinds appears to have "just" been espionage and not, apparently, some type of prelude to destruction.
The uncomfortable reality of American cyber espionage | Zach Dorfman of the Aspen Institute | January 27, 2021 | AxiosIt was a prelude for Brooks, and by the time he got to his microphone, my imagination was primed.
It felt like a prelude, a 26-year-old entering the mastery phase of stardom.
John Wall gave the Wizards their last great memory. Then it all fell apart. | Jerry Brewer | December 3, 2020 | Washington PostPerhaps as a prelude to this attempt, researchers just published a number of new studies about the geochemistry of Bennu today in the journals Science and Science Advances, providing some of the biggest revelations to date.
Asteroid Bennu may have been home to ancient water flows | Neel Patel | October 8, 2020 | MIT Technology Review
There was an entryway near here to another courtyard, itself a prelude to the heart of the main temple.
Fighting Back With Faith: Inside the Yezidis’ Iraqi Temple | Michael Luongo | August 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThis could be a prelude to peace talks—or intensified fighting.
Or will they be merely the dark prelude to an even darker future?
We should hope this only sounds like a prelude to an intervention.
Here's What It's Like to Fight Vitali Klitschko, Ukraine’s Revolutionary Champ | Michael Daly | February 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMarguerite hoped it would be the prelude to a book she wanted to write, and asked if I could get it published somewhere.
Oswald’s Mother Was a Thoroughly Disagreeable Piece of Work | Steve North | November 17, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTA full, busy youth is your only prelude to a self-contained and independent age; and the muff inevitably develops into a bore.
The Pocket R.L.S. | Robert Louis StevensonA trifling dispute with which his reign began was the prelude to very serious events.
Belgium | George W. T. (George William Thomson) OmondAnd so, with this prelude, I may as well tell without more delay what evil fortune was in store for us.
The Way of a Man | Emerson HoughIs it not possible that Chopin may have afterwards substituted the new prelude for one of those already forwarded to France?
Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician | Frederick NiecksChopin began generally to prelude apathetically and only gradually grew warm, but then his playing was really grand.
Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician | Frederick Niecks
British Dictionary definitions for prelude
/ (ˈprɛljuːd) /
a piece of music that precedes a fugue, or forms the first movement of a suite, or an introduction to an act in an opera, etc
(esp for piano) a self-contained piece of music
something serving as an introduction or preceding event, occurrence, etc
to serve as a prelude to (something)
(tr) to introduce by a prelude
Origin of prelude
1Derived forms of prelude
- preluder (prɪˈljuːdə, ˈprɛljʊdə), noun
- preludial, adjective
- prelusion (prɪˈljuːʒən), noun
- prelusive (prɪˈljuːsɪv) or prelusory (prɪˈljuːsərɪ), adjective
- prelusively or prelusorily, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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