{
    "term": "preliminary",
    "partOfSpeech": "adjective",
    "academic": true,
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "happening before a more important action or event",
            "sensetop": "preliminary to something",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "After a few preliminary remarks he announced the winners."
                },
                {
                    "text": "preliminary results/findings/enquiries"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the preliminary rounds of the contest"
                },
                {
                    "text": "pilot studies preliminary to a full-scale study",
                    "contextForm": "preliminary to something"
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/prɪˈlɪmɪnəri/",
                "audio": "pr/preliminary/preliminary__gb_2.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/prɪˈlɪmɪneri/",
                "audio": "pr/preliminary/preliminary__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "mid 17th cent.: from modern Latin praeliminaris or French préliminaire, from Latin prae ‘before’ + limen, limin- ‘threshold’."
}