2 ADJ [ADJ n] Pre-Raphaelite art was created by the Pre-Raphaelites.
3 ADJ If you say that a woman looks Pre-Raphaelite , you mean that she looks like a character in a Pre-Raphaelite painting, for example because she has long wavy hair.
pre -reco rded also prerecorded ADJ Something that is pre-recorded has been recorded in advance so that it can be broadcast or played later. □ …a pre-recorded interview.
pre|requi|site /priː re kw I z I t/ (prerequisites ) N‑COUNT If one thing is a prerequisite for another, it must happen or exist before the other thing is possible. □ [+ for/of ] Good self-esteem is a prerequisite for a happy life.
pre|roga|tive /pr I rɒ gət I v/ (prerogatives ) N‑COUNT [oft with poss] If something is the prerogative of a particular person or group, it is a privilege or a power that only they have. [FORMAL ] □ Constitutional changes are exclusively the prerogative of the parliament.
pres|age /pre s I dʒ/ (presages , presaging , presaged ) VERB If something presages a situation or event, it is considered to be a warning or sign of what is about to happen. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] …the dawn's loud chorus that seemed to presage a bright hot summer's day.
Pres|by|ter|ian /pre zb I t I ə riən/ (Presbyterians )
1 ADJ Presbyterian means belonging or relating to a Protestant church, found especially in Scotland or the United States, which is governed by a body of official people all of equal rank. □ …a Presbyterian minister.
2 N‑COUNT A Presbyterian is a member of the Presbyterian church.
pres|by|tery /pre zb I tri, [AM ] -teri/ (presbyteries ) N‑COUNT A presbytery is the house in which a Roman Catholic priest lives.
pre-school (pre-schools ) also preschool Pronounced /priː skuː l/ for meaning 1 , and /priː skuːl/ for meaning 2 . 1 ADJ [ADJ n] Pre-school is used to describe things relating to the care and education of children before they reach the age when they have to go to school. [WRITTEN ] □ Looking after pre-school children is very tiring. □ The Halsey Report emphasized the value of a pre-school education.
2 N‑VAR In the United States, a pre-school is a school for children between the ages of 2 and 5 or 6. □ Children graduate to the kindergarten, then pre-school, and then school.
pre|schooler /priːskuː lə r / (preschoolers ) also pre-schooler N‑COUNT [usu pl] Children who are no longer babies but are not yet old enough to go to school are sometimes referred to as preschoolers . [WRITTEN ]
pres|ci|ent /pre siənt, [AM ] pre ʃ-/ ADJ If you say that someone or something was prescient , you mean that they were able to know or predict what was going to happen in the future. [FORMAL ] □ …'Bob Roberts', an eerily prescient comedy about a populist multimillionaire political candidate. ● pres|ci|ence N‑UNCOUNT □ Over the years he's demonstrated a certain prescience in foreign affairs.
pre|scribe /pr I skra I b/ (prescribes , prescribing , prescribed )
1 VERB If a doctor prescribes medicine or treatment for you, he or she tells you what medicine or treatment to have. □ [V n] Our doctor diagnosed a throat infection and prescribed antibiotics and junior aspirin. □ [V -ed] She took twice the prescribed dose of sleeping tablets. □ [V n + to ] The law allows doctors to prescribe contraception to the under 16s.
2 VERB If a person or set of laws or rules prescribes an action or duty, they state that it must be carried out. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] …article II of the constitution, which prescribes the method of electing a president. □ [V -ed] Alliott told Singleton he was passing the sentence prescribed by law.
pre|scrip|tion /pr I skr I pʃ ə n/ (prescriptions )
1 N‑COUNT A prescription is the piece of paper on which your doctor writes an order for medicine and which you give to a chemist or pharmacist to get the medicine. □ You will have to take your prescription to a chemist.
2 N‑COUNT A prescription is a medicine which a doctor has told you to take. □ The prescription Ackerman gave me isn't doing any good. ● PHRASE If a medicine is available on prescription , you can only get it from a chemist or pharmacist if a doctor gives you a prescription for it. □ The drug is available on prescription only.
3 N‑COUNT A prescription is a proposal or a plan which gives ideas about how to solve a problem or improve a situation. □ …the economic prescriptions of Ireland's main political parties.
pre|scrip|tive /pr I skr I pt I v/ ADJ A prescriptive approach to something involves telling people what they should do, rather than simply giving suggestions or describing what is done. [FORMAL ] □ …prescriptive attitudes to language on the part of teachers. □ The psychologists insist, however, that they are not being prescriptive.
pres|ence ◆◆◇ /pre z ə ns/ (presences )
1 N‑SING [with poss] Someone's presence in a place is the fact that they are there. □ [+ in ] They argued that his presence in the village could only stir up trouble. □ [+ at ] She received hundreds of emails and phone calls requesting her presence at company meetings.
2 N‑UNCOUNT If you say that someone has presence , you mean that they impress people by their appearance and manner. [APPROVAL ] □ Hendrix's stage presence appealed to thousands of teenage rebels.
3 N‑COUNT A presence is a person or creature that you cannot see, but that you are aware of. [LITERARY ] □ She started to be affected by the ghostly presence she could feel in the house.
4 N‑SING If a country has a military presence in another country, it has some of its armed forces there. □ London had intended to grant Aden independence in 1968 but retain a military presence.