1. Referring to or relating to a physician who gives practical training to a medical student: The retired doctor, who had helped the students become familiar with the difficulties of their chosen profession, was the most important preceptorial instructor the students had ever had.
2. Relating generally to a tutor or an instructor: To supplement his scholarship, Davis applied for a preceptorial position in the history department at his college.
3. Etymology: from Latin praeceptor, from praecep, "warned, instructed", from the verb praecipere, precipere, "to warn, to instruct"; from prae, pre, "before" + capere, "to take".