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

Coachella 2025 presale tickets go on sale at noon on Friday, Nov. 22. —Ed Masley, The Arizona Republic, 21 Nov. 2024

Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets in the U.S. beginning Wednesday, November 20 at 12pm local time until Monday, November 25 at 10 pm local time through the Citi Entertainment program. —Jem Aswad, Variety, 19 Nov. 2024

Noun

The equivalent sale last year hammered at $88.4 million, which was seen as disappointing because that amount fell about $8 million short of its $96 million presale estimate. —Brian Boucher For Artnews, Robb Report, 23 Nov. 2024

In response, sales teams need to take advantage of presales engineering resources to appeal to a wider range of technical buyers. —Evan Powell, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1917, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1918, in the meaning defined above