| / English Dictionary |
PREPARATORY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Preceding and preparing for something
Example:
preparatory steps
Synonyms:
preparative; preparatory; propaedeutic
Classified under:
Similar:
preceding (existing or coming before)
Derivation:
prepare (make ready or suitable or equip in advance for a particular purpose or for some use, event, etc)
prepare (undergo training or instruction in preparation for a particular role, function, or profession)
prepare (create by training and teaching)
prepare (educate for a future role or function)
Context examples:
The preparatory interest of this dinner, however, was not yet over.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
The Priory is, without exception, the best and most select preparatory school in England.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“I will not,” said Mrs. Micawber, finishing her punch, and gathering her scarf about her shoulders, preparatory to her withdrawal to my bedroom: “I will not protract these remarks on the subject of Mr. Micawber's pecuniary affairs. At your fireside, my dear Mr. Copperfield, and in the presence of Mr. Traddles, who, though not so old a friend, is quite one of ourselves, I could not refrain from making you acquainted with the course I advise Mr. Micawber to take. I feel that the time is arrived when Mr. Micawber should exert himself and—I will add—assert himself, and it appears to me that these are the means. I am aware that I am merely a female, and that a masculine judgement is usually considered more competent to the discussion of such questions; still I must not forget that, when I lived at home with my papa and mama, my papa was in the habit of saying, “Emma's form is fragile, but her grasp of a subject is inferior to none.”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Beyond sat a pair of humble lovers, artlessly holding each other by the hand, a somber spinster eating peppermints out of a paper bag, and an old gentleman taking his preparatory nap behind a yellow bandanna.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Her father's business was to announce James's being gone out to put the horses to, preparatory to their now daily drive to Randalls; and she had, therefore, an immediate excuse for disappearing.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
So unreasonably early! she was going to exclaim; but she presently found that it was a family of old friends, who were coming, like herself, by particular desire, to help Mr. Weston's judgment; and they were so very closely followed by another carriage of cousins, who had been entreated to come early with the same distinguishing earnestness, on the same errand, that it seemed as if half the company might soon be collected together for the purpose of preparatory inspection.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
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