as in prelude
a performance, activity, or event that precedes and sets the stage for the main event
the couple's initial exchange of insults proved to be only a warm-up for their booze-fueled fight later that night
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Recent Examples of warm (up)
Miami Herald, 9 Oct. 2025
End your warm-up session with a light jog.
—J'ne Day-Lucore, Outside, 7 Oct. 2025
Before venturing to the water to scream, Chris led the group in a breathing warm-up, with meditative music playing from a speaker.
—Kelli Arseneau, jsonline.com, 6 Oct. 2025
Eventually the in-studio warm-up comic, Don Barris, a jovial pro with a Taftian mustache, led a few applause drills.
—Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for warm (up)
Verb
After a few warm-up throws, Tua Tagovailoa flexed his left hand.
—Miami Herald, 9 Oct. 2025
End your warm-up session with a light jog.
—J'ne Day-Lucore, Outside, 7 Oct. 2025
Before venturing to the water to scream, Chris led the group in a breathing warm-up, with meditative music playing from a speaker.
—Kelli Arseneau, jsonline.com, 6 Oct. 2025
Eventually the in-studio warm-up comic, Don Barris, a jovial pro with a Taftian mustache, led a few applause drills.
—Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for warm (up)
Recent Examples of Synonyms for warm (up)
Noun
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The campaign to defund the arts, capture our museums, and rewrite our history is a prelude to silencing dissent itself.—
Andrew Weinstein,
Time,
24 Oct. 2025
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Maduro, meanwhile, has framed the buildup as a prelude to invasion and praised Venezuela’s readiness to defend its sovereignty.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Target leans back towards DEI Target last week highlighted its partnership with the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs that provides education and other services to Black founders of small businesses.—
Diane Brady,
Fortune,
27 Oct. 2025
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Upcycling solid wastes This technique provides a versatile, scalable, and efficient strategy for upcycling solid wastes into high-performance materials for environmental and energy catalysis, as per the study.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Santana finished a weak fourth in the preliminary.—
Joe Battenfeld,
Boston Herald,
21 Oct. 2025
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In 1988: Greg Louganis won the gold medal in the 3-meter springboard at the Seoul Olympics one day after hitting his head on the diving board during the preliminaries.—
Arizona Republic,
AZCentral.com,
19 Sep. 2025
Verb
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TechCrunch reports that Also already has a deal in place to supply one of the quads, which features a large cargo compartment, to Amazon.—
Bryan Hood,
Robb Report,
23 Oct. 2025
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Teams are placed into CIF Southern Section girls volleyball playoff divisions according to their rating supplied by Massey Ratings System.—
Steve Fryer,
Oc Register,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The team, after all, is 13-1-3 at home this season — and throughout its four-season tenure has a remarkable home record furnished by one of the most beautifully boisterous fanbases in all of MLS.—
Alex Zietlow,
Charlotte Observer,
22 Oct. 2025
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Wahlberg and his wife, Rhea Durham, purchased the estate fully furnished, a decision that enables them to settle in seamlessly ahead of the Palm Beach social season getting into full swing.—
Tori Latham,
Robb Report,
20 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Because John Herschel believed that the correlation between magnetic storms and auroras revealed both to be meteorological phenomena, the new observatories would be equipped with weather instruments that, in time, would permit the first global measurements of climate change.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Oct. 2025
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As for grunt, Big Naan is equipped with two 742 kW Caterpillar C32 ACERT engines that enable a top speed of over 14 knots, a cruising speed of 12 knots, and a range exceeding 5,500 nautical miles at an economical speed of 10 knots.—
Rachel Cormack,
Robb Report,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Gripen fighters have the reputation of being relatively cheap and easy to maintain and arm, and able to operate in austere conditions – using roads or even dirt roads for runways.—
Brad Lendon,
CNN Money,
23 Oct. 2025
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We’d be traveling to a bunker near another unit, Team B, which would assemble suicide drones and arm them with explosives.—
Ken Harbaugh,
The Atlantic,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Employers should foster transparent, safe ways for employees to voice concerns inside the organization and educate managers on how to handle them.—
Johnny C. Taylor Jr,
USA Today,
28 Oct. 2025
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Word had gotten around that the home belonged to an elder activist, an old-school Garveyite who had come from the South to educate the city of Brotherly Love’s Black masses.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Warm (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/warm%20%28up%29. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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