preclinical

adjective

pre·​clin·​i·​cal (ˌ)prē-ˈkli-ni-kəl 

1

: of, relating to, or concerned with the period preceding clinical manifestations

2

: of, relating to, or being the period in medical or dental education preceding the clinical study of medicine or dentistry

3

: occurring prior to clinical testing

a preclinical animal study of a new therapy

Examples of preclinical in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Antiaging, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial — preclinical and small studies have shown this goopy ingredient could come with some major benefits for your skin. —Hunter Boyce, AJC.com, 13 Jan. 2026

For life sciences companies, Anthropic is expanding beyond its initial focus on preclinical research to support clinical trial operations and regulatory work. —Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 11 Jan. 2026

When researchers reduced or removed CISTR-ACT in preclinical models, cells grew larger. —Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 16 Dec. 2025

Because of this and other promising signs in preclinical research, there were naturally a lot of eyes on these trials. —New Atlas, 24 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1876, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for preclinical

• nonclinical
• rabbinical
• subclinical
• binnacle
• clinical
• cynical
• pinnacle

Medical Definition

preclinical

adjective

pre·​clin·​i·​cal (ˈ)prē-ˈklin-i-kəl 

1

a

: of, relating to, concerned with, or being the period preceding clinical manifestations

the preclinical stage of diabetes mellitus

b

: occurring prior to a clinical trial

preclinical animal testing to assess a drug's safety

2

: of, relating to, or being the period in medical or dental education preceding the clinical study of medicine or dentistry

the preclinical years

specifically : of or relating to the early period of prescribed medical or dental study devoted to the basic sciences (as anatomy, physiology, and pathology)

preclinical studies

3

: of, relating to, or being a science basic to medicine

research in the preclinical sciences