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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
prequel
noun
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "The Phantom Menace" is a prequel to "Star Wars."
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Michael Walsh is writing the Warner novel, which includes a prequel and a sequel to the events in the 1942 film.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
prequel

1973, from pre-, based on sequel (n.).

Wiktionary
prequel

n. (context narratology English) In a series of works, an installment that is set chronologically before its predecessor, especially the original narrative or (perhaps improper usage) any narrative work with at least one sequel.

Wikipedia
Prequel

A prequel is a literary, dramatic, or filmic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a back-story to the preceding work.

All "prequels" are, by definition, essentially sequels in that they "expand on a previous or preceding work." The term is a 20th-century neologism that is a portmanteau of the prefix "pre-" (from Latin prae, "before") and " sequel".

Like sequels, prequels may or may not concern the same plot as the work from which they are derived. Often, they explain the background which led to the events in the original, but sometimes the connections are not as explicit. Sometimes, prequels play on the fact that the audience knows what will happen next, using deliberate references to create dramatic irony.

Usage examples of "prequel".

Ellie, newly an orphan, was leaning her head on a table, bemoaning her poverty and explaining to the audience all the prequel plot about being left the Matchless Mine.

I found that there was enough material to do a novel on it alone, a prequel of sorts which will involve the discoveries and construction of World and will.

This sort of stuff is just a necessary prequel to the main event, a formal reception and banquet to which he has devoted the full-time attention of four ghosts.

Stir of Bones is a stand-alone prequel to two of those adult novels, A Red Heart of Memories and Past the Size of Dreaming.

Vinge's latest novel, A Deepness in the Sky (a prequel to A Fire Upon the Deep), performs the same trick at considerably longer length.

The story conferences at Skywalker Ranch, where so much creative activity was being poured into the prequel films.

But, hey—if prequels are good enough for George Lucas, they’re certainly good enough for me!

Now I'm going to go back and reread some classics (which is what I remember doing before the proliferation of sequels and prequels came to swell the shelves of bookstores).