preview
Americannoun
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an earlier or previous view.
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an advance showing of a motion picture, play, etc., before its public opening.
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an advance showing of brief scenes in a motion picture, television show, etc., for purposes of advertisement.
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anything that gives an advance idea or impression of something to come.
verb (used with object)
noun
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an advance or preliminary view or sight
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an advance showing before public presentation of a film, art exhibition, etc, usually before an invited audience of celebrities and journalists
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a public performance of a play before the official first night
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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previewsimple
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previewssimple
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have previewedperfect
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has previewedperfect
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am previewingprogressive
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are previewingprogressive
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is previewingprogressive
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have been previewingperfect progressive
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has been previewingperfect progressive
Past
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previewedsimple
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had previewedperfect
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was previewingprogressive
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were previewingprogressive
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had been previewingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of preview
First recorded in 1600–10; 1920–25 preview for def. 2; pre- + view
Explanation
A preview gives you a look at something that hasn't been released yet. You see lots of previews at the movies. If you've been to a movie lately, chances are you saw plenty of previews — little highlights of upcoming movies that are designed to make you want to see them. Any little snippet designed to get you excited about something to come can be called a preview. If you're writing a novel, you could give someone a preview by reading them a few lines. And you're lucky enough to see a show before it opens to the public, you're previewing it.
Vocabulary lists containing preview
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: pre-
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Power Prefix: Pre-
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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 episode was a preview of the trade-offs now shaping the post-Iran debate over the wider arsenal.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
The successful observation also provides a preview of the type of work China hopes to conduct with Tianwen-2.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
DC Studios will also grace Hall H to preview its HBO series "Lanterns," starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as small-town Nebraska detectives, which debuts August 16.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Divergence can be the hallmark of a rally when a new industry has taken the market baton, but also a preview of broader market trouble.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
The episode ends, cutting immediately to a short preview of next week’s episode.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
The BBC's North America editor Sarah Smith previews the visit and explains the late senator's remarkable influence on the two conflicts.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The deal will feature brand-sponsored series, previews of aTwist originals and a QR code that will take viewers directly to the aTwist platform.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
The White House insisted in previews of the summit agenda that U.S. policy toward the island wouldn’t change.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
The hot topic in cybersecurity has been Anthropic’s Mythos AI model—which is supposedly so capable that the company has deemed it too dangerous to release to the public and is restricted to corporate previews.
From Barron's ● Apr. 21, 2026
In reality, previews that read like a scrunched-up table of contents are there to help the writer, not the reader.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Trump previewed this topic in a Truth Social a few minutes before taking the stage.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026
Is this the Hawaiʻi case you previewed last week?
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
After Rodrigo previewed her music, “The Cure” music video exhibition was opened up to the fans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
Apple previewed an AI-enhanced version of its Siri chatbot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Engravings of the Arctic from his upcoming book were previewed in the news media, increasing its soaring advance sales.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Separately, "Strike Norse" embedding a photo of England's Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, previewing "Lions ready to roar past Norway into the semis" of the World Cup.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Las Vegas: IBM unveiled a device that merged telephony and computing in 1992 at a Las Vegas trade show, previewing the coming mobile era.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Finance, technology and government leaders had expressed concerns about its public rollout, following a private release in April for previewing and testing vulnerabilities within its own system.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
However, CEO Kristin Peck highlighted “increased price sensitivity” among pet owners, previewing the macro headwinds that Singh would later flag.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
All afternoon she had been preoccupied with previewing Darlene’s dress rehearsal.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
