preliminary

préliminaire, initial

Fait pour préparer l’étape principale ou avant de disposer d’informations définitives.

En anglais simple : Done first to prepare for something more important, or happening before final information is available.

• These are preliminary results.
• We held a preliminary meeting before starting the project.
• The preliminary tests showed no serious problems.

Synonymes : initial, preparatory, introductory

Contraires : final

Expressions courantes : preliminary results, preliminary discussion, preliminary investigation

préliminaire, préparation

Ce qu’on fait d’abord pour préparer l’activité ou l’événement principal.

En anglais simple : Something done first to prepare for the main activity or event.

• Let us finish the preliminaries first.
• Checking the equipment is a necessary preliminary to the experiment.
• After a few brief preliminaries, the discussion began.

Comment l'utiliser : a preliminary to something (This interview is a preliminary to the final selection.)

Synonymes : preparation, preparatory step

Expressions courantes : necessary preliminary, preliminary to something, skip the preliminaries

avant, préalablement à

Avant le début de quelque chose, généralement pour le préparer.

En anglais simple : Before something begins, usually as preparation for it.

• Preliminary to dinner, the host welcomed everyone.
• Preliminary to the discussions, each member introduced themselves.
• We exchanged documents preliminary to the negotiations.

Comment l'utiliser : preliminary to something (Preliminary to the meeting, we checked the figures.)

Synonymes : before, prior to

Contraires : after

Expressions courantes : preliminary to something, preliminary to discussions