prelude
Americannoun
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preludes
plural
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a preliminary to an action, event, condition, or work of broader scope and higher importance.
- Synonyms:
- beginning, opening, introduction
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any action, event, comment, etc. that precedes something else.
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Music.
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a relatively short, independent instrumental composition, free in form and resembling an improvisation.
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a piece that precedes a more important movement.
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the overture to an opera.
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an independent piece, of moderate length, sometimes used as an introduction to a fugue.
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music opening a church service; an introductory voluntary.
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verb (used with object)
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preludes,
present (3rd person singular)
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preluded,
past participle, past
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preluding
present participle
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to serve as a prelude or introduction to.
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to introduce by a prelude.
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to play as a prelude.
verb (used without object)
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preludes,
present (3rd person singular)
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preluded,
past participle, past
-
preluding
present participle
-
to serve as a prelude.
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to give a prelude.
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to play a prelude.
noun
-
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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
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(esp for piano) a self-contained piece of music
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something serving as an introduction or preceding event, occurrence, etc
verb
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to serve as a prelude to (something)
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(tr) to introduce by a prelude
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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preludernoun
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prelusionnoun
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preludialadjective
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preludiousadjective
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prelusiveadjective
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unpreludedadjective
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preludiouslyadverb
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prelusivelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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preludesimple
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preludessimple
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have preludedperfect
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has preludedperfect
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am preludingprogressive
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are preludingprogressive
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is preludingprogressive
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have been preludingperfect progressive
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has been preludingperfect progressive
Past
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preludedsimple
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had preludedperfect
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was preludingprogressive
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were preludingprogressive
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had been preludingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of prelude
1555–65; (noun) < Medieval Latin praelūdium, equivalent to prae- pre- + -lūdium play; compare Latin lūdus play; (v.) < Latin praelūdere to play beforehand
Explanation
A prelude is an introductory action, event, or performance that comes before a bigger or more momentous one. It is made of up the prefix pre- meaning "before," and the Latin root ludere meaning "play." Speakers of old school French and Latin understood a prelude to be the notes that they would play or sing to warm up or test an instrument. Today preludes are more like introductions than practice, but you can still think of them as small warm ups to the main events. Preludes are often used in classical music, as well as in novels, to set the tone for the rest of the orchestral piece or story.
Vocabulary lists containing prelude
"Two Kinds" (from The Joy Luck Club) by Amy Tan
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The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
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"Total Loss Weekend" by Don Delillo
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The Lilliputian people in the foreground look excited—or is it terrified?—and the heavy mood feels less like a romantic outing than a prelude to volcanic eruption.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
This shameful incident, from which Sumner never fully recovered, served as a prelude to the Civil War.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
At Ojai, Lewis wistfully performed the solo prelude off in Libbey Park shrubbery as if a dallying forest spirit summoning ghosts of festivals past.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
He called for a comprehensive ceasefire as a prelude to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
If the music Bod had heard until then was a prelude, it was a prelude no longer.
From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman
It has also caused speculation among Russian analysts and the country’s political class over whether it preludes another draft.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
He started playing piano at the age of two and, at just 17, gave a remarkable two-and-a-half-hour concert featuring the 24 preludes and fugues by composer Dmitri Shostakovich.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2024
After intermission came the second book of Debussy’s preludes, more convincing but not the old Pollini.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2024
As a child, she was drawn to the lyricism of his preludes for piano, even as she followed a strict conservatory regimen of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.
From New York Times ● Jan. 26, 2023
Too impatient to endure a long range diet, he went on radical diets that seemed like preludes to famine.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
The Taliban did not issue a formal statement on the anniversary of the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks that preluded them being driven from power 20 years earlier.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 11, 2021
Similar marches have since preluded Pride events across the country.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 6, 2019
Seventy years later, it was lost to the modern urges that preluded the Seattle Century 21 World’s Fair.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2018
Their Majesties' present Afric tour was preluded when they left Antwerp some weeks ago on the steamer Thysville, but began in earnest as they landed at Boma, in the mouth of Mother Congo.
From Time Magazine Archive
The two great Frenchmen whose writings preluded the French Revolution both set their faces against it.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 8 "Dubner" to "Dyeing" by Various
They were preluding a Pan-Pacific Buddhists' Conference to be held in Tokyo in 1934.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mrs. Stitchley, who purposely had partaken of a light luncheon and no tea, was particularly loud in her encomiums, preluding each sausage-roll she took, from the sixth onwards, with some fresh adjective.
From Mrs. Bindle Some Incidents from the Domestic Life of the Bindles by Hebert Jenkins
"Begin!" hollaes Sachs, and Beckmesser, after preluding, sings, while Sachs punctuates the lines with smart taps on the last.
From The Wagnerian Romances by Gertrude Hall Brownell
"Sunday?" repeats Linda, letting her fingers wander absently in dreamy preluding over the keys.
From Felix Lanzberg's Expiation by Ossip Schubin
Through the closed curtains comes the early sun, First a pale finger, preluding the hand.
From Poems by Edward Shanks
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
