Adjective preliminary has 1 sense
- preliminary - designed to orient or acquaint with a situation before proceeding; "a preliminary investigation"
Antonyms: nonexploratory, nonexplorative, unexploratory, unexplorative (indirect, via exploratory)
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Noun preliminary has 2 senses
- preliminary, prelim - a minor match preceding the main event
--1 is a kind of athletic contest, athletic competition, athletics
- preliminary, overture, prelude - something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows; "training is a necessary preliminary to employment"; "drinks were the overture to dinner"
--2 is a kind of origin, origination, inception
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