preprandial

1 9.9

Before a meal, especially dinner

adjective
/ˌpriːˈprændiəl/

Specialized

: preprandial

She enjoyed a preprandial drink while waiting for dinner to be served.

Examples

But despite the preprandial drinks and a fine dinner (duckling with cherry sauce), it was a lugubrious evening.

Fiction book (1992)
Elspeth's cheeks were inflamed by the preprandial sherry.

Fiction book (1991)
"Brave, bring me preprandial Scotch on the rocks."

Fiction book (1998)
The guests mingled over preprandial cocktails before the formal dinner began.
We shared a light conversation during our preprandial tasting of wines.

Synonyms

before dinner

vspreprandial

45 1.0

At a time before the evening meal

covers times before any meal, not only the evening meal

predinner

vspreprandial

1 3.7

Happening before dinner

applies before any meal but especially the evening meal

Antonyms

postprandial

Specialized

1 9.0

Happens after a meal, often after dinner

Surface Forms

preprandial positive

Morphology

preprandial = prandial (semi-transparent) = pre + prandial

The prefix 'pre-' clearly means 'before', but 'prandial' is a rare learned item, so the full form may not be obvious to typical learners.

Etymology

The word preprandial is made of pre- meaning 'before' and prandium meaning 'meal', a root you can see in Italian pranzo, 'lunch'. So, preprandial means something that happens 'before' a meal, like a pre-dinner drink or a blood sugar check taken before eating.