at the ready
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Abdullah took his job so seriously, Abdullahi said, that he would stand in the sun, always at the ready.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
With a helicopter circling overhead, police in armored vehicles rolled up to the Sunshine Motel in downtown San Bernardino and jumped out with assault rifles at the ready.
From Los Angeles Times • May 2, 2026
First let's have a look at what's around this summer if you want to make a weekend of it; sleeping bag and tent at the ready.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
On a foggy winter morning captain Khetsopon Nopsiri led a six-strong Thai army patrol along dirt tracks through the forest, assault rifles at the ready.
From Barron's • Mar. 10, 2026
They waited at the ready for the door to open.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
Definitions 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.
