presale

1 of 2

adjective

pre·​sale ˌprē-ˈsāl 

variants or pre-sale

1

: done, existing, or occurring before a sale

a presale party/tour/exhibition

presale expectations

a presale disclosure

Sotheby's pre-sale estimate was $12,000-15,000, but early bidding indicated that the final sales price would go far higher.

—R. O. Blechman

2

: of, relating to, being, or involving a presale

She paid $30 to join the … fan club, which gives members access to presale tickets.

—Marco R. della Cava

presale orders for the book

bought a presale condo

presale

2 of 2

noun

variants or pre-sale

plural presales or pre-sales

: the sale of something before it is completed or available

… the first run of books is nearly sold out in presale on Amazon.

—Brooke Edwards

As stated earlier, a presale is literally a sale of your film to a particular territory before the film is made.

—Stacey Parks

… said most developers would now need a large number of presales to get bank backing.

—Susan Edmunds

Tickets go on sale to the general public May 14. Select presales begin May 7.

—Andrew Gans

Sources have told The Wall Street Journal that Apple has "sold hundreds of thousands" of iPads since the device went on presale March 12.

—Erica Ogg

Examples of presale in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Early access ticket sign-ups have gone on online ahead of general sale in December, and O2 Priority customers will get presale access as well. —Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 18 Nov. 2025

Little Orphan Alex Live Tour, giving cardmembers access to presale tickets from 10 a.m. Nov. 18, to 10 a.m. Nov. 19, through the Citi Entertainment program. —Ed Masley, AZCentral.com, 14 Nov. 2025

Noun

The collection opens for presale on the Von Dutch site on Monday and is available for sale the next day. —Jean E. Palmieri, Footwear News, 21 Nov. 2025

Note that, on the domestic side, exhibition and rival distributors have crazy projections north of $175M million, but what’s hard to read on this heavily female-leaning property are the enormous presales. —Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 18 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1917, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1918, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for presale

• airmail
• assail
• avail
• bewail
• blackmail
• cattail
• cocktail
• curtail
• derail
• detail
• dovetail
• email