Definition of "preamble" []

• A preliminary statement, especially the introduction to a formal document that serves to explain its purpose. (noun)
• An introductory occurrence or fact; a preliminary. (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.

• "Secondly, many argue that the preamble is being read too narrowly: that an individual using a weapon to protect his individual rights is just as necessary to the security of a free state as protecting it from a foreign army or an armed rebellion."
• "'I suspect that this lengthy preamble is intended to conceal the poverty of my story, for I am apprehensive."
• "This preamble is to note that I discovered quite a few very good authors for the first time via the editor's recommendation route."