英汉词典

1. 预备的；初步的
    Preliminary activities or discussions take place at the beginning of an event, often as a form of preparation.

    e.g. Preliminary results show the Republican party with 11 percent of the vote...
           初步结果显示共和党获得了11%的选票。
    e.g. Preliminary talks on the future of the bases began yesterday.
           昨天开始了关于基地未来的初步讨论。

2. 准备工作；初步行动
    A preliminary is something that you do at the beginning of an activity, often as a form of preparation.

    e.g. It had taken about ten minutes to cover the preliminaries...
           准备工作大概花了10分钟。
    e.g. A background check is normally a preliminary to a presidential appointment.
           总统任命前通常要进行背景审查的准备工作。

3. 预赛；初赛；初试
    A preliminary is the first part of a competition to see who will go on to the main competition.

preliminary是什么意思

    e.g. The winner of each preliminary goes through to the final.
           每场初赛的获胜者进入决赛。