preliminaries

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Earlier, during the preliminaries, someone had led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance—first to the American flag, then to the state of Texas.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

He swam the lead leg in the preliminaries, helping the team set an Olympic record that paved the way for a world-record win in the final.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 30, 2025

As the preliminaries drew to a close, Mike’s friends gradually started coming upstairs to join him.

From Slate • Oct. 31, 2024

After a successful debut at Tokyo 2020, the skateboarding got under way in Paris with Britons Sky Brown and Lola Tambling competing in the women's park preliminaries.

From BBC • Aug. 6, 2024

The instructor, working on the knowledge that his students either had taken it before and flunked it, or had already had it in high school, sluffed over the preliminaries and got right down to translation.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith