presale

1 of 2

adjective

pre·​sale ˌprē-ˈsāl 

variants or pre-sale

1

: done, existing, or occurring before a sale

a presale party/tour/exhibition

presale expectations

a presale disclosure

Sotheby's pre-sale estimate was $12,000-15,000, but early bidding indicated that the final sales price would go far higher.

—R. O. Blechman

2

: of, relating to, being, or involving a presale

She paid $30 to join the … fan club, which gives members access to presale tickets.

—Marco R. della Cava

presale orders for the book

bought a presale condo

presale

2 of 2

noun

variants or pre-sale

plural presales or pre-sales

: the sale of something before it is completed or available

… the first run of books is nearly sold out in presale on Amazon.

—Brooke Edwards

As stated earlier, a presale is literally a sale of your film to a particular territory before the film is made.

—Stacey Parks

… said most developers would now need a large number of presales to get bank backing.

—Susan Edmunds

Tickets go on sale to the general public May 14. Select presales begin May 7.

—Andrew Gans

Sources have told The Wall Street Journal that Apple has "sold hundreds of thousands" of iPads since the device went on presale March 12.

—Erica Ogg

Examples of presale in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Fans can get access to presale tickets at signup.ticketmaster.com/backstreetboys through 10 p.m. PT Feb. 17. —Jennifer McClellan, USA TODAY, 12 Feb. 2025

Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets staring on Friday (Feb. 7) at 10 a.m. PT via the Citi Entertainment program. —Rania Aniftos, Billboard, 6 Feb. 2025

Noun

Public ticket sales start Friday, but presales started yesterday and continue for the rest of the week. —Justin Kaufmann, Axios, 11 Feb. 2025

An artist presale will begin on Feb. 11, and a separate Spotify presale will start on Feb. 12. —Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 10 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1917, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1918, in the meaning defined above