preschool
Americanadjective
noun
-
preschools
plural
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of preschool
Explanation
A preschool is a school for kids too young for kindergarten. In preschool, your teacher will still help you tie your shoes and stick your straw into your juice box. You can use the word preschool for the actual building where three year olds attend school, or for the program there. It's also an adjective for talking about preschool teachers, preschool students, or preschool funding in your town. Preschool has been used since the late 1800s, and it's also commonly called pre-K or nursery school.
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:
Other next-door neighbors include a convent, a multi-building affordable-housing complex and a preschool for children with hearing loss.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
Ashton, 40, said the large rear parking lot at his previous location shared a fence with Rainbow School, another day care and preschool, without controversy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Its Great Society architects wanted “to help break the cycle of poverty, providing preschool children of low-income families with a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional and psychological needs.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Instead, he says the findings could help researchers identify what public school pre-K programs are doing effectively and use those lessons to strengthen center-based and family-based preschool programs.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
Polishing silver reminds me of preschool, where I did all these random chores like sorting, scrubbing, and sewing giant buttons with a blunt needle.
From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan
With the future of government backing unclear, she froze hiring for a postdoctoral researcher and warned partner preschools that her timeline was uncertain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
A lack of suitable premises is putting pressure on voluntary preschools to stay open, a nursery struggling to find a new home has said.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
The Supreme Court is expected to hear the Catholic preschools case during its term beginning in October and issue a ruling by June 2027.
From Barron's ● Apr. 20, 2026
Dawn Uribe, the owner of four Spanish-immersion preschools in Minnesota, said two of her staffers have been detained by ICE.
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2026
The preschools would fill up with strange ring-eyed children.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
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.
