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lead-ins

noun

plural of lead-in
as in preliminaries

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for lead-ins
  1. preliminaries
  2. overtures
  3. preambles
  4. warm-ups
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 preliminaries
Noun
  • They’re also required to report any such overtures to the league.
    — Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Tottenham’s Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray, Stuttgart’s Angelo Stiller, Brighton’s Carlos Belaba, Botafogo’s Danilo and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Larsson were among them, while overtures were made regarding Victor Froholdt’s availability at Porto.
    — George Caulkin, New York Times, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of overtures
Noun
  • The rest were preambles or dead ends.
    — Dan Turello, New Yorker, 10 Jan. 2026
  • Unless needed for clarity, avoid long preambles.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2025
Definition of preambles
Noun
  • Last season, while in charge at Burnley, Scott Parker also played music during warm-ups and ball-work phases of sessions — and, like the Italian, his staff paused the tunes for tactical sessions.
    — Greg O'Keeffe, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026
  • An hour before curtain at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, acrobats tumble, juggle and test a towering Chinese pole, turning warm-ups for ‘Water for Elephants’ into a mini-circus.
    — Jenelle Riley, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of warm-ups
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.

Browse Nearby Words

leading one down the garden path
lead-ins
leadman
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Cite this Entry

“Lead-ins.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lead-ins. Accessed 26 Sep. 2026.

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