Definition

Noun: A period of time occurring before the official start of a sports league's competitive schedule. This period is specifically dedicated to activities such as team training, practice games, physical conditioning, and strategic preparation for the upcoming official matches.

Usage

The term "preseason" is used to refer to the preparatory phase in professional and amateur sports. It describes the time when athletes report to their teams, undergo fitness assessments, and participate in exhibition games that do not count toward the official standings.

Examples

• The team's new signings will be evaluated during preseason.
• He suffered a significant injury in a preseason game and missed the entire regular season.
• Preseason training is often the most physically demanding part of the year for players.

Advanced Usage

• "preseason favorite": A team that is predicted by analysts and commentators to perform very well in the upcoming regular season, based on their perceived strength and performance during the preseason period.
  • Despite being the preseason favorite, the team failed to make the playoffs.

Variants and Related Words

• Preseason (adjective): Used attributively to describe nouns related to this period.
  • preseason workouts, preseason rankings, preseason expectations
• Training camp: A closely related term often used synonymously, especially in North American sports, referring to the intensive training period at the start of preseason.

Synonyms

• Exhibition season
• Training camp (context-dependent)
• Preparatory period

Antonyms

• Regular season
• Postseason
• Offseason

Noun

1. a period prior to the beginning of the regular season which is devoted to training and preparation