prefatory
pre·fa·tory
adjective
1.
serving as an introduction or preface
Origin
From Medieval Latin *praefator + -ory (“agent”), from Medieval Latin prefatia (whence preface), for classical Latin praefatio (“a saying beforehand”) - see preface for details. Note that this is borrowed from Latin, not derived in English from preface, as in occasional misspelling *prefecatory.
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.