preliminaries
Britishplural noun
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.
Nine university students entered the preliminaries this year, wrestling bulls weighing hundreds of kilograms and sporting hard, stubby horns.
From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026
Tennyson never made it to the Southern Section track preliminaries after winning the league title.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2026
Earlier, during the preliminaries, someone had led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance—first to the American flag, then to the state of Texas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
As the preliminaries drew to a close, Mike’s friends gradually started coming upstairs to join him.
From Slate ● Oct. 31, 2024
In bed we went through the preliminaries, plumping our pillows, yawning.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
