Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A preliminary statement, especially.
  • noun The introduction to a formal document that explains its purpose.
  • noun A statement accompanying a law or regulation specifying its purpose or reason for enactment.
  • noun An introductory occurrence or fact; a preliminary.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A preliminary statement; an introductory paragraph or division of a discourse or writing; a preface; prologue; prelude.
  • noun Specifically The introductory part of a statute or resolution, which states or indicates the reasons and intent of what follows.
  • To go before; precede; serve as a preamble.
  • To make a preamble; preface one's remarks or actions; prelude.
  • To walk over previously; tread beforehand.
  • To preface; introduce with preliminary remarks.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A introductory portion; an introduction or preface, as to a book, document, etc.; specifically, the introductory part of a statute, which states the reasons and intent of the law.
  • verb rare To make a preamble to; to preface; to serve as a preamble.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A short preliminary statement or remark, especially an explanatory introduction to a formal document or statute.
  • noun computing A syncword.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make a preliminary introduction, usually to a formal document
  • noun a preliminary introduction to a statute or constitution (usually explaining its purpose)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French preambule, from Medieval Latin praeambulum, from neuter of Late Latin praeambulus, walking in front : Latin prae-, pre- + Latin ambulāre, to walk; see ambulate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French preambule (French: préambule), from Medieval Latin praeambulum, from praeambulo ("to walk before")

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Examples

  • Secondly, many argue that the preamble is being read too narrowly: that an individual using a weapon to protect his individual rights is just as necessary to the security of a free state as protecting it from a foreign army or an armed rebellion.

    Supreme Court Preview: McDonald v. Chicago | Heretical Ideas Magazine 2009

  • 'I suspect that this lengthy preamble is intended to conceal the poverty of my story, for I am apprehensive.

    47 entries from February 2008 2008

  • 'I suspect that this lengthy preamble is intended to conceal the poverty of my story, for I am apprehensive.

    The Hour of the Star - Clarice Lispector 2008

  • 'I suspect that this lengthy preamble is intended to conceal the poverty of my story, for I am apprehensive.

    The Hour of the Star - Clarice Lispector 2008

  • This preamble is to note that I discovered quite a few very good authors for the first time via the editor's recommendation route.

    Sunday Salon: clubs and Ingrid Black Maxine 2007

  • This preamble is to note that I discovered quite a few very good authors for the first time via the editor's recommendation route.

    Sunday Salon: clubs and Ingrid Black Maxine 2007

  • This preamble is to note that I discovered quite a few very good authors for the first time via the editor's recommendation route.

    November 2007 Maxine 2007

  • The Nights: here the preamble is insufficient; the whole is clumsy for want of a thread upon which the many independent tales and fables should be strung298; and the consequent disorder and confusion tell upon the reader, who cannot remember the sequence without taking notes.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • That preamble is just an excuse to show this little bit of amateur photoshopping.

    Archive 2004-11-01 Ed 2004

  • That preamble is just an excuse to show this little bit of amateur photoshopping.

    All we need is Blog? Ed 2004

Comments

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  • (FracDef) A warm-up exercise at the Senior Olympics.

    Thank you Teri Townsend.

    February 16, 2008

  • Polling Wordizens:

    Do you say PREE-amm-ble or PREamble? Or something else, like PRE-AM-ble?

    August 1, 2009

  • Preeeeem-bl!

    August 1, 2009

  • pree AM ble, the way God intended it be said.

    August 1, 2009

  • ...in the preamble to the bible?

    August 1, 2009

  • The Bhagavad Gita, yes.

    I don't get to use my religion major very often...

    August 1, 2009

  • Ha ha!

    August 1, 2009

  • PREEamble

    August 1, 2009

  • I'm with skippy on this one!

    August 1, 2009

  • Thanks, Wordizens!

    August 1, 2009

  • That was a great definition of preamble. As we all know, we have our preamble in our US Constitution. It reads:

    "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

    It doesn't have much legal authority, but that said, it was written during the Constitutional Convention, held in the fall of 1787 in Philadelphia. The framework for the Constitution was written by James Madison, and signed by convention delegates on September 17th. It was written down by Jacob Shallus, whose handwritten copy is still on display. There you go – you don't need to put any fast cash to find out what the Preamble to the Constitution says.

    September 22, 2009

  • EduardoA is a spammer. Mildly cute, perhaps, but a spammer.

    September 22, 2009

  • A preamble is the amble you do before the actual amble.

    December 9, 2011