prepare
Americanverb (used with object)
-
prepares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
prepared,
past participle, past
-
preparing
present participle
-
to put in proper condition or readiness.
to prepare a patient for surgery.
- Antonyms:
- disorganize
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to get (a meal) ready for eating, as by proper assembling, cooking, etc.
-
to manufacture, compound, or compose.
to prepare a cough syrup.
- Synonyms:
- make
-
Music. to lead up to (a discord, an embellishment, etc.) by some preliminary tone or tones.
verb (used without object)
-
prepares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
prepared,
past participle, past
-
preparing
present participle
verb
-
to make ready or suitable in advance for a particular purpose or for some use, event, etc
to prepare a meal
to prepare to go
-
to put together using parts or ingredients; compose or construct
-
(tr) to equip or outfit, as for an expedition
-
(tr) music to soften the impact of (a dissonant note) by the use of preparation
-
(foll by an infinitive) to be willing and able (to do something)
I'm not prepared to reveal these figures
Synonym Usage
Prepare, contrive, devise imply planning for and making ready for something expected or thought possible. To prepare is to make ready beforehand for some approaching event, need, and the like: to prepare a room, a speech. Contrive and devise emphasize the exercise of ingenuity and inventiveness. The first word suggests a shrewdness that borders on trickery, but this is absent from devise : to contrive a means of escape; to devise a time-saving method.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
preparesimple
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preparessimple
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have preparedperfect
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has preparedperfect
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am preparingprogressive
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are preparingprogressive
-
is preparingprogressive
-
have been preparingperfect progressive
-
has been preparingperfect progressive
Past
-
preparedsimple
-
had preparedperfect
-
was preparingprogressive
-
were preparingprogressive
-
had been preparingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of prepare
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin praeparāre “to make ready beforehand,” equivalent to prae- pre- + parāre “to set, get ready” (akin to parent )
Explanation
To prepare means to get ready for something. When you prepare for a test, you'll get a better score than if you don’t. Look at all the variations that you find with prepare. If you prepare yourself mentally for an experience, you sent you mind on it happening. If you're going to tell your family that you're moving out, you might want to prepare them by having them sit down. Are you prepared for their reaction? Are you prepared to defend your decision? You can prepare wood to be painted by cleaning and sanding it. And if you prepare dinner, you cook it.
Vocabulary lists containing prepare
PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She’s a goalie for the girls’ soccer team and headed to Georgetown in Janaury to prepare for the college season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
Lagarde called for Europe to better prepare for more frequent bouts of extreme weather, praising new rules unveiled by the European Union last week to force member states to act.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026
"We move on to the weekend. We've got a really important game here against Aston Villa, which we need to prepare for."
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
The carefully coordinated operation, nicknamed the "Big Bang," took months to prepare and was completed approximately six weeks after engineers carried out an identical procedure on Voyager 2.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026
Early Saturday morning, Liz drives Owen, Leo, and me over to Charlotte Farms to prepare for the festival.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
Raman, who was the first DSA-affiliated Los Angeles city council member, will now helm the entertainment capital as it prepares to host the 2028 Olympics.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
As he prepares for an uncertain future, Carrasco plans to keep working at his family’s Northridge cafe, Mate Conmigo, where he can pursue his creative ambitions while maintaining a stable job.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
The Treasury Department on Wednesday opened the door to changes to its debt-issuance plans as it prepares to increase borrowing to fund the nearly $2 trillion deficit.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026
The fundraising hiccups come as OpenAI prepares to go public as soon as early next year, and amid a brutal tech selloff tied to disappointing earnings results from giants including Google, Amazon and Intel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
She prepares a fresh bandage for my arm.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
Dina Powell McCormick, who as president of Meta Platforms oversees its AI-infrastructure operations, said at the WSJ Tech conference Wednesday night that the company had already found one incoming governor prepared to parley.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Not everyone wants a spanking new kitchen and is prepared to endure the disruption that such a renovation would cause.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
"Nobody was prepared for the swiftness or the violence of the pivot," Tu Le of Sino Auto Insights told AFP.
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026
"The mornings have already started feeling stuffy. It will get worse in the coming days, so it's better to be prepared," says the 43-year-old teacher.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
We, the public, prepared ourselves and waited for opportunities to open up, and when they did, we walked through the doors.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
The company is preparing regulatory submissions with partner Merck for intismeran, its personalized melanoma vaccine, following late-stage study results that showed the vaccine reduced the risk of the cancer spreading or returning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
The creator of Claude is preparing for arguably the most anticipated IPO in years — perhaps before Thanksgiving.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026
The move however fueled speculation that Trump could be preparing further work on the West Wing, after several hints that he could move reporters out of the famed briefing room located near the Oval.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
“We’re just gonna have to work that much harder to get a job. I’m already preparing myself for a brutal postgrad life,” Abularach said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
The family began preparing to move to a resettlement village on the shore of the future lake.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
