From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishprefacepref‧ace1 /ˈprefɪs/ ●○○ noun [countable] ALan introduction at the beginning of a book or speech
Examples from the Corpus
preface• His extreme position caused an outcry, and some of the contributors to Le Livre Noir dissociated themselves from his preface.• In his preface Green acknowledges that this is a book he hopes to update with contributions from the floor.• Nordenfalk starts his preface as follows.• This edition contains a new preface by the author.• The first thing to note about the preface is that it needs to be read.• It was mentioned in the preface that a number of written questions were put to academics as part of this study.• It says so in the preface.• In the preface, the editor of the catalogue makes it clear that only a representative selection of coins is listed.• Murray agreed to write the preface to Baker's book, as a favor to his old friend.prefacepreface2 verb [transitive] formalBEFORE to say or do something before the main part of what you are going to say The book is prefaced by a quotation from Faulkner.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
preface• Therefore I shall preface a discussion of the pros and cons of reproductive techniques by a brief résumé of the underlying biology.• She prefaces her book with an attempt to sum up the whole hideous story.• Daniel prefaces his interpretation with a review of Nebuchadnezzar's prideful fall from grace and Beishazzar's own lack of humility.• Al-Hosni prefaced his speech with a phrase from the Koran.• I must preface my remarks about school performance by stating that school provision in general is extremely good in my borough of Bexley.• All have prefaced the discussion by lamenting the barrels' disappearance.• In contrast to the prairie-like flatness of the structure, a grand gold and white awning prefaced the house.• In their minds it had been prefaced with romantic dialogue and protestations of love.• Each book is prefaced with simple parental guidelines explaining the skills each exercise aims to develop.Origin preface1 (1300-1400) French préface, from Latin praefatio, from praefari “to say before” 