preamble
preamble Lexical Profile
preamble Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The introductory part of a statute, deed, constitution, or other legal document, stating its purpose, aims, and justification.
"Students in civics class were asked to memorize the preamble to the United States Constitution."
A preliminary or preparatory statement; an introduction to a book, speech, or formal event.
"Without any preamble, she announced that she was resigning from the board."
A preliminary sequence of signal bits transmitted before a data frame in a network communication to synchronize transmission timing between devices.
"The receiver uses the Ethernet preamble to lock onto the incoming bit stream before reading the packet header."
• verb
To make a preliminary statement or introduction before speaking or writing the main part.
"He preambled at length about the history of the committee before finally addressing the budget."
• Rhymes for preamble
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 14th century from Old French 'preambule', from Medieval Latin 'praeambulum', literally meaning 'a walking before' (from Latin 'prae-' meaning 'before' and 'ambulare' meaning 'to walk').