preschool
Americanadjective
noun
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:
Toddler and preschool toys are down 15% over the same period.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
In response to an image of the rodent working on a laptop in a preschool classroom, one user commented: “Amelia has just screamed in excitement that it’s in the class.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The final budget does not increase the 2.01% cost-of-living raise for state preschool staff and child-care providers who run programs with subsidized spaces, which child-care advocates also pushed for.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Up to 4% of preschool children and 2.4% of UK adults live with food allergies, according to charity Anaphylaxis UK.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
All my friends in Newark from my preschool and the masjid where we went to pray all had moms who wore hijab.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
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 first nationwide randomized study of children enrolled in public Montessori preschools found that students showed stronger learning outcomes by the time they reached kindergarten.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 1, 2026
But this growth — about 13,000 students — only slightly surpasses the loss of 12,000 child-care slots for 3- and 4-year-olds at the preschools that have closed since 2020.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
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.
