PRELUDE: Synonyms and Related Words. What is Another Word for PRELUDE?

Need another word that means the same as “prelude”? Find 17 synonyms and 30 related words for “prelude” in this overview.

The synonyms of “Prelude” are: overture, preliminary, opening, preparation, introduction, start, beginning, lead-in, precursor, forerunner, harbinger, herald, voluntary, preface, prologue, foreword, preamble

Prelude as a Noun

Definitions of "Prelude" as a noun

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “prelude” as a noun can have the following definitions:

• Something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows.
• Music that precedes a fugue or introduces an act in an opera.
• A short piece of music of a style similar to a prelude, especially for the piano.
• The introductory part of a poem or other literary work.
• An action or event serving as an introduction to something more important.
• An introductory piece of music, most commonly an orchestral opening to an act of an opera, the first movement of a suite, or a piece preceding a fugue.

Synonyms of "Prelude" as a noun (17 Words)

beginning	The event consisting of the start of something. She had the beginnings of a headache.
forerunner	An advance messenger. Overcast mornings are the sure forerunners of steady rain.
foreword	A short introductory essay preceding the text of a book.
harbinger	A forerunner of something. These works were not yet opera but they were the most important harbinger of opera.
herald	A person who announces important news. They considered the first primroses as the herald of spring.
introduction	The act of putting one thing into another. The introduction of muskrats into central Europe.
lead-in	The introductory section of a story.
opening	The act of opening something. There is an opening in the sales department.
overture	A tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of others. Drinks were the overture to dinner.
preamble	A preliminary introduction to a statute or constitution (usually explaining its purpose. I gave him the bad news without preamble.
precursor	A substance from which another is formed, especially by metabolic reaction. Pepsinogen is the inactive precursor of pepsin.
preface	A preliminary explanation. It was an abrupt question made without even the preface of a greeting.
preliminary	A preliminary round in a sporting competition. The bombardment was resumed as a preliminary to an infantry attack.
preparation	(in conventional harmony) the sounding of the discordant note in a chord in the preceding chord where it is not discordant, lessening the effect of the discord. He left the preparation of meals to his wife.
prologue	The actor who delivers the prologue in a play. The suppressed prologue to Women in Love.
start	A turn to be a starter in a game at the beginning. You hear of some rum starts there.
voluntary	A person who freely enlists for service.

Usage Examples of "Prelude" as a noun

• A ceasefire had been agreed as a prelude to full peace negotiations.

Associations of "Prelude" (30 Words)

accompanist	A person who provides a musical accompaniment to another musician or to a singer.
aria	A long accompanied song for a solo voice, typically one in an opera or oratorio.
cantata	A musical composition for voices and orchestra based on a religious text.
choral	Engaged in or concerned with singing. A choral scholar.
chorus	A section of text spoken by the chorus in drama. Yes the children chorused.
concert	Joint action, especially in the committing of a crime. The concert version of the fourth interlude from the opera.
concerto	A musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially one conceived on a relatively large scale.
ensemble	The coordination between performers executing an ensemble passage. We would have to adopt a picture in which there is an ensemble of all possible universes with some probability distribution.
introductory	Serving as an introduction or preface. We are making a special introductory offer of a reduced subscription.
music	The sounds produced by singers or musical instruments or reproductions of such sounds. He devoted his life to music.
musical	A play or film whose action and dialogue is interspersed with singing and dancing. A hit West End musical Miss Saigon.
orchestra	The part of a theatre where the orchestra plays typically in front of the stage and on a lower level.
orchestration	An arrangement of events that attempts to achieve a maximum effect. Ballads backed by lush orchestrations.
overture	An approach or proposal made to someone with the aim of opening negotiations or establishing a relationship. The overture to Mozart s Don Giovanni.
philharmonic	Devoted to music (chiefly used in the names of orchestras. The most philharmonic ear is at times deeply affected by a simple air.
pianist	A person who plays the piano.
piano	A large keyboard musical instrument with a wooden case enclosing a soundboard and metal strings, which are struck by hammers when the keys are depressed. The strings’ vibration is stopped by dampers when the keys are released and can be regulated for length and volume by two or three pedals. The piano passages in the composition.
playing	The act of playing a musical instrument.
preamble	A preliminary or preparatory statement; an introduction. I gave him the bad news without preamble.
preliminary	A preliminary action or event. A preliminary investigation.
preparatory	Preceding and preparing for something. Preparatory schooling.
rehearsal	(psychology) a form of practice; repetition of information (silently or aloud) in order to keep it in short-term memory. Rehearsals for the opera season.
repertoire	A stock of plays, dances, or items that a company or a performer knows or is prepared to perform. His repertoire of denigratory gestures.
rondo	A musical form with a recurring leading theme, often found in the final movement of a sonata or concerto.
soloist	A musician who performs a solo. He appears as a concerto soloist with all the great British orchestras.
sonata	A composition for an instrumental soloist often with a piano accompaniment typically in several movements with one or more in sonata form.
symphony	A long and complex sonata for symphony orchestra. Autumn is a symphony of texture and pattern.
viola	Any of the numerous plants of the genus Viola.
violin	Bowed stringed instrument that is the highest member of the violin family this instrument has four strings and a hollow body and an unfretted fingerboard and is played with a bow.
yet	Used in negative statement to describe a situation that has existed up to this point or up to the present time. The congress was widely acclaimed as the best yet.