preface

noun
🔊/ˈprefəs/
🔊/ˈprefəs/
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  1. an introduction to a book, especially one that explains the author’s aims(书的)前言,序言 compare foreword
    • preface to something I read it in the preface to her new book.我在她的新书序言中读过它。
    • in a preface In his preface he claimed that he had created a new kind of music.他在前言中声称他创造了一种新音乐。
    Topics Literature and writingc2
    Word Originlate Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin praefatia, alteration of Latin praefatio(n-) ‘words spoken beforehand’, from the verb praefari, from prae ‘before’ + fari ‘speak’.

preface

verb
🔊/ˈprefəs/
🔊/ˈprefəs/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they preface
🔊/ˈprefəs/
🔊/ˈprefəs/
he / she / it prefaces
🔊/ˈprefəsɪz/
🔊/ˈprefəsɪz/
past simple prefaced
🔊/ˈprefəst/
🔊/ˈprefəst/
past participle prefaced
🔊/ˈprefəst/
🔊/ˈprefəst/
-ing form prefacing
🔊/ˈprefəsɪŋ/
🔊/ˈprefəsɪŋ/
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  1. preface something (with something) to provide a book or other piece of writing with a preface为…写序言
    • He prefaced the diaries with a short account of how they were discovered.他在前言中简要叙述了发现日记的经过。🔊🔊
    • Each chapter is prefaced by a quotation from Shakespeare.每章的开头都引用了莎士比亚的名言。
  2. preface something by/with something | preface something by doing something (formal) to say something before you start making a speech, answering a question, etc.以…为开端;作…的开场白
    • I must preface my remarks with an apology.讲话前,我必须先表示歉意。🔊🔊
  3. Word Originlate Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin praefatia, alteration of Latin praefatio(n-) ‘words spoken beforehand’, from the verb praefari, from prae ‘before’ + fari ‘speak’.