preseason

noun

pre·​sea·​son ˌprē-ˈsē-zᵊn 

ˈprē-ˌsē-zᵊn

plural preseasons

: a period of time immediately preceding a season

tourists who visit during the preseason

especially : a training period preceding a sport's regular season in which teams compete in unofficial games

The preseason starts in two weeks.

performed well in (the) preseason

Quarterback John Friesz was lost for the year in the preseason to knee surgery.

—Paul Zimmerman

Dennis Rodman's mysterious boycott finally ended on Monday when he arrived for practice for the first time since the start of preseason.

—Jack McCallum

preseason adjective

preseason football

preseason training

the preseason opener/finale

preseason rankings/polls

the preseason favorite

Examples of preseason in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Here’s a look at those quarterbacks and others who land on our preseason All-Big Ten team. — Scott Dochterman, New York Times, 26 July 2026

Miami is seventh in preseason title odds per DraftKings, after only Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas, champ Indiana, Oregon and Georgia. — Greg Cote july 26, Miami Herald, 26 July 2026

Joint practices More teams choose to use practices against other opponents to prepare their quarterbacks and key starters for the regular season instead of preseason games. — Rob Maaddi, Chicago Tribune, 25 July 2026

The season before that, Detroit had some of the longest preseason odds in the league and also won 44 games. — Tim Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for preseason

• milesian
• partizan
• postseason
• unreason
• reason
• season
• seizin
• treason