lead-in

noun

Definition of lead-innext
as in preliminary

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of lead-in The series will serve as a nice lead-in for Season 2 of The Paper, which debuts September 9. — Katie Campione, Deadline, 2 Sep. 2026 The negative spin is that the game lost nearly half the viewers from the massive Clark lead-in audience. — Dan Zaksheske Outkick, FOXNews.com, 19 Aug. 2026 That movie should have served as a decent lead-in, even introducing Kara at the end, but this is miles away from that film's $618 million. — Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 11 July 2026 And so your lead-in is the program that's on before you, and 60 Minutes for most of the season has the NFL right before 60 Minutes. — Zulekha Nathoo, USA Today, 8 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for lead-in
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lead-in
  1. preliminary
  2. overture
  3. prelude
  4. prologue
  5. preamble
Noun
  • This year’s Miss World competition recently made headlines during the preliminaries when Ugandan delegate Elle Muhoza made a powerful fashion statement.
    — Tabitha Parent, PEOPLE, 5 Sep. 2026
  • But all of that was just the preliminaries for Grady Emerson.
    — John Romano, The Orlando Sentinel, 26 July 2026
Definition of preliminary
Noun
  • His music put melody and relatability ahead of acrobatics, and his overtures still had swagger.
    — Clover Hope, Pitchfork, 25 Oct. 2026
  • The protests came ahead of next month’s snap election as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party criticized the conservative opposition Popular Party for making overtures about privatizing public pensions.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of overture
Noun
  • The Bulldogs have road games at Penn and Columbia, then home games against Brown and Princeton, the prelude to The Game at Fenway Park.
    — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 18 Oct. 2026
  • And yet, in Wembanyama’s eyes — and those of his teammates — those accomplishments amount to little more than a prelude.
    — Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of prelude
Noun
  • Mazzoli’s score has its moments of playfulness, starting with the prologue in which the chorus members blow into kazoos.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Proceedings kicked off Saturday with MipJunior, the kids & family prolog to Mipcom proper.
    — John Hopewell, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of prologue
Noun
  • Unaware of this sinister preamble, Tom Kennedy (Scott) is moving into the area with his young son, Jake (Acston Luca Porto).
    — Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Filed as an emergency preamble, the legislation immediately went into effect.
    — Tim Dunn, Boston Herald, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of preamble

Browse Nearby Words

leaderships
lead-in
leading
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Lead-in.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lead-in. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of grotesque

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All