preclinical

American

[pree-klin-i-kuhl] / priˈklɪn ɪ kəl /

adjective

Medicine/Medical.

of or relating to the period prior to the appearance of the symptoms.

preclinical British

/ priːˈklɪnɪkəl /

adjective

of, relating to, or occurring during the early phases of a disease before accurate diagnosis is possible
of, relating to, or designating an early period of scientific study by a medical student before practical experience with patients

"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

Other Word Forms

preclinically

adverb

Etymology

Origin of preclinical

First recorded in 1930–35; pre- + clinical

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:

preclinical

Drugs that activate ERRγ are also being investigated in preclinical research for other medical applications.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026

They also found that the gene signature became less prominent after senescent cells were removed in preclinical experiments.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2026

The Blanchard laboratory combined findings from miBrains with preclinical models, postmortem human brain tissue, and transcriptomic data.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026

The therapeutic cells described in the research have so far been evaluated only in preclinical experiments.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026

Insilico has sustained preclinical candidate generation since 2021 across multiple therapeutic areas, supporting the repeatability of its AI-discovery process.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023