exploratory

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

exploratory
    adj 1: serving in or intended for exploration or discovery; "an
           exploratory operation"; "exploratory reconnaissance";
           "digging an exploratory well in the Gulf of Mexico";
           "exploratory talks between diplomats" [syn:
           {exploratory}, {explorative}] [ant: {nonexplorative},
           {nonexploratory}, {unexplorative}, {unexploratory}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Exploratory \Ex*plor"a*to*ry\, a. [L. exploratorius.]
   Serving or intended to explore; searching; examining;
   explorative. --Sir H. Wotton.
   [1913 Webster]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

26 Moby Thesaurus words for "exploratory":
      advanced, analytic, avant-garde, examinational, examinatorial,
      examining, explorational, explorative, fact-finding, feeling,
      groping, heuristic, inaugural, indagative, inspectional,
      inspectorial, investigational, investigative, investigatory,
      original, preceding, preliminary, tentative, testing, trying,
      zetetic

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