preclinical

adjective

pre·​clin·​i·​cal (ˌ)prē-ˈkli-ni-kəl How to pronounce preclinical (audio)
1
: of, relating to, or concerned with the period preceding clinical manifestations
2
: of, relating to, or being the period in medical or dental education preceding the clinical study of medicine or dentistry
3
: occurring prior to clinical testing
a preclinical animal study of a new therapy

Examples of preclinical in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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.
Cases of apparent scientific fraud, such as work underlying Alzheimer’s disease drugs that Science investigated, have added to worries about the integrity of these preclinical studies. Byjocelyn Kaiser, science.org, 26 Dec. 2024 The Chinese company’s drug is in the preclinical stage and hasn’t entered human trials. Jeff Marks, CNBC, 18 Dec. 2024 The rest were aimed at human treatments and included preclinical toxicity testing of a pancreatic cancer drug candidate and development of a new islet cell transplantation method for type 1 diabetes. Bymeredith Wadman, science.org, 28 Oct. 2024 The decrease was primarily driven by cost rationalization measures and the wind-down of preclinical studies. Quartz Bot, Quartz, 14 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for preclinical 

Word History

First Known Use

1876, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of preclinical was in 1876

Dictionary Entries Near preclinical

Cite this Entry

“Preclinical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preclinical. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

Medical Definition

preclinical

adjective
pre·​clin·​i·​cal (ˈ)prē-ˈklin-i-kəl How to pronounce preclinical (audio)
1
a
: of, relating to, concerned with, or being the period preceding clinical manifestations
the preclinical stage of diabetes mellitus
b
: occurring prior to a clinical trial
preclinical animal testing to assess a drug's safety
2
: of, relating to, or being the period in medical or dental education preceding the clinical study of medicine or dentistry
the preclinical years
specifically : of or relating to the early period of prescribed medical or dental study devoted to the basic sciences (as anatomy, physiology, and pathology)
preclinical studies
3
: of, relating to, or being a science basic to medicine
research in the preclinical sciences
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!