exordium Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun (rhetoric) the introductory section of an oration or discourse

WordNet

Ex*or"di*um noun
Etymology
L. fr. exordiri to begin a web, lay a warp, begin; ex out + ordiri to begin a web, begin; akin to E. order. See Order.
Wordforms
plural E Exordiums L Exordia
Definitions
  1. A beginning; an introduction; especially, the introductory part of a discourse or written composition, which prepares the audience for the main subject; the opening part of an oration. "The exordium of repentance." Jer. Taylor. "Long prefaces and exordiums. " Addison.

Webster 1913