Definition of "exordium" [ex•or•di•um]

• A beginning or introductory part, especially of a speech or treatise. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "[1795] ⁠ * Your exordium is the worst part of the translation."
• "The exordium is ridiculously turgid: If all the members of my body were changed into tongues, and if all my limbs resounded with"
• "Chrysostom, tom.iii. p. 381 — 386, which the exordium is particularly beautiful."