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

Its structure puts it into a completely separate class of synthetic opioid agonists, though, one that preclinical studies suggest may affect breathing and blood flow at far lower doses than even fentanyl. — New Atlas, 30 Sep. 2026

Chimagen’s unidentified candidate is currently in preclinical-stage development and due to start human testing next year. — Ed Silverman, STAT, 15 Sep. 2026

Subsense, which has raised $27 million in funding, is currently doing preclinical work, experimenting with various elements of the technology and conducting some experiments on mice. — Alexei Oreskovic, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2026

Finding an answer still requires the painstaking work of formulation, preclinical testing, clinical research, and regulatory review. — Emma Clapp, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2026

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