exordium

noun

eg-ˈzȯr-dē-əm How to pronounce exordium (audio)
Definition of exordiumnext
as in preface
a short section (as of a book) that leads to or explains the main part in his exordium the author warns his readers that they should expect a radically different interpretation of the causes of the war

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for exordium
  1. preface
  2. introduction
  3. foreword
  4. prologue
Noun
  • So reads the first line in the preface of the first edition (1768) of the Encyclopædia Britannica.
    — Murasaki Shikibu, Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 Sep. 2026
  • What could have been a throwaway nibble instead becomes a thought-through, gripping preface that sets up what’s to come.
    — Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2026
Definition of preface
Noun
  • The Air Max Plus was designed by Sean McDowell and first released in 1998, serving as an introduction to Nike’s latest cushioning breakthrough, Tuned Air.
    — Riley Jones, Footwear News, 4 Oct. 2026
  • Larkin, wearing street clothes, was booed during pregame introductions.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of introduction
Noun
  • According to Complex, Kid Rock elaborates on a different, higher profile collaboration on his forthcoming album in the project’s foreword.
    — Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The lavish collection includes a foreword by royal journalist and biographer Tina Brown, who spent one-on-one time with the late princess during a lunch at the Four Seasons in New York just weeks before her death.
    — Sophie Dunne, Footwear News, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of foreword
Noun
  • The prologue starts in 1986 in Newfoundland with a family relocating, uprooting their lives in the most all-encompassing of ways, taking their entire home — propped up on a barge and steered by a lone motorboat — across a bay.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2026
  • In fact, the historical episodes depicted in the prologue — historical episodes that occurred in 1956 — remain unpunished to this day.
    — Roberto Prieto, Variety, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of prologue
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Exordium.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/exordium. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on exordium

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about exordium

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