pre-increment

noun

An increment operation that takes place prior to evaluation of the expression that contains the variable being incremented.

OriginEnglish increment ← Middle English pre- ← Latin prae- →
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Meanings

nounpre-increment (plural pre-increments)

plural pre-increments

  1. computingAn increment operation that takes place prior to evaluation of the expression that contains the variable being incremented.
verbpre-increment (third-person singular simple present pre-increments, present participle pre-incrementing, simple past and past participle pre-incremented)

present singular third person pre-increments · participle present pre-incrementing · participle past pre-incremented · past pre-incremented

  1. transitivecomputingTo perform such an operation upon.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*préh₂i?
  4. Proto-Italic*prai
  5. Proto-Italic*prai-
  6. Latinprae-
  7. Middle Englishpre-
  8. Englishpre-
  9. Englishincrement
  10. Englishpre-increment

From pre- + increment.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

pre-increment. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pre-increment

MLA

“pre-increment.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pre-increment. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pre-increment,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pre-increment.

Source: pre-increment on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.