preheat
Americanverb (used with object)
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preheats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
preheated,
past participle, past
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preheating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
preheatsimple
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preheatssimple
-
have preheatedperfect
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has preheatedperfect
-
am preheatingprogressive
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are preheatingprogressive
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is preheatingprogressive
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have been preheatingperfect progressive
-
has been preheatingperfect progressive
Past
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preheatedsimple
-
had preheatedperfect
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was preheatingprogressive
-
were preheatingprogressive
-
had been preheatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of preheat
Explanation
To preheat is to make something become hot beforehand, especially an oven before you bake something in it. Frozen pizza tastes better if you preheat your oven before you cook it. You're most likely to find the verb preheat in a recipe. You might want to preheat your grill for a certain length of time before the guests show up for your barbecue, or preheat your oven before baking a loaf of bread. Preheating ensures that you'll be cooking food at an even, steady temperature and makes it easier not to burn or undercook it. A clue about this word's meaning is the "before" prefix, pre-.
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:
And give your oven plenty of time to preheat: Cold pastry meeting strong heat is where the magic happens.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
It worked just as well layered over a sheet and under a comforter to preheat the bed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
Position a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350ºF.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
This is easy to do after you preheat the grill and before you put the food on it; and after you cook.
From Washington Times ● May 28, 2023
“I’ll put a pot of water on to boil and preheat the oven.”
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
“It essentially preheats the fuels,” Mr. Sanchez said.
From New York Times ● Sep. 6, 2022
“If it’s, say, 0 degrees outside and you keep your house at 70 degrees, the system preheats all that cold air coming into your home,” Maschmedt says.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 15, 2022
Set a large, rimmed baking sheet on the rack while the oven preheats.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 20, 2022
Place them on the lined tray to freeze with the others while the oven preheats to 375 °F.
From Fox News ● Dec. 9, 2021
He preheats the beaker and plunger with some of the boiling water before adding the grounds and water.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2021
I bought a pizza stone, preheated it thoroughly, and figured out the ideal cooking time for my oven.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
When cooking something in a flash, preheated oil and prepped ingredients are necessities.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for about 20 minutes, until they turn golden brown.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 30, 2023
The oven I had preheated for my stuffing had not, in fact, heated.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2023
Bake this comforting casserole in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the potato chips are lightly browned.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
He purported to speak with Ghislaine Maxwell, Luigi Mangione and Sean “Diddy” Combs before revealing that the key to making prison rice pudding is preheating the toilet to 350 degrees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2025
After a couple of days of gradual preheating, the piece inside the 6-by-6-foot box atop a brick foundation is fired to 2,340 degrees in a 14-hour cycle.
From Seattle Times ● May 8, 2024
ARE YOU ONE of those impatient souls who already skips preheating the oven?
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 2, 2024
Even in these vehicles, preheating before starting only helped reduce fuel consumption by less than 4% compared to cold starts.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2023
The can was the preheating type with enclosed spoon and the warm odor of baked beans filled the room.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
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.
