often plural something that is said or done to introduce or prepare for something else 序言；开场白；引介行为；准备工作
After a few brief preliminaries, she launched into her speech. 简短几句开场白之后，她开始了她的演讲。
2
the preliminaries plural the first part of a competition in which those who win compete in the main event and those who are defeated no longer take part 预赛；预选赛