prearrange
Americanverb (used with object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of prearrange
Explanation
When you plan something well in advance, you prearrange it. If a reporter prearranges every interview question with a politician, the answers will probably come out sounding too polished and phony. Whenever people agree on or organize the details of something before it happens, they prearrange it. Many things in life benefit from being prearranged: spies need to prearrange meeting places and code words, and new parents usually prearrange gear like car seats and diapers before the birth of their child. Prearrange adds the "before" prefix pre- to arrange, from the Old French a, "to," and rangier, "set in a row."
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:
Guests need to prearrange entrances or exits, or buzz an intercom during those hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
“You can’t really prearrange, in coaching, where you go.”
From Washington Post ● Dec. 7, 2018
But Altman welcomed actors' contributions, and if he didn't prearrange everything in the manner of a Kubrick or Hitchcock, he would post-arrange them once he saw what he had.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2015
“Some people feel like if they come in and prearrange for their burial then they’re going to die the next day,” he says.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2012
It is thus possible to prearrange with observers in widely-different parts of the earth as to the observations to be made on each particular night.
From The Story of the Heavens by Ball, Robert S. (Robert Stawell), Sir
This long-standing debate asks whether we begin life with everything prearranged or whether our experiences shape who we become.
From Science Daily ● May 3, 2026
At companies like Chevron and ConocoPhillips, executives have sold stock External link this year, sometimes as part of prearranged stock-trading plans.
From Barron's ● Apr. 14, 2026
Some of the sales were prearranged under plans that allow executives to sell stock automatically at specific times or share prices without making in-the-moment decisions that could leave them open to allegations of improper trading.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
We imagine ourselves influencing the story, but mostly we are participating in a prearranged rhythm, following cues we barely notice.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2025
My understanding is that the reception committee who prepared the landing field is not connected to Julie’s prearranged contacts in Ormaie—more accurately they are all different members of the same circuit.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
During the Williams sisters’ early years as professionals, there was speculation on tour that their father and co-coach, Richard Williams, was prearranging the results of their matches against each other.
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2022
Last week he was able to use more traditional tactics, prearranging talks with party elders like Senator Paul Laxalt of Nevada.
From Time Magazine Archive
For his part, Bobby never explained what either Karpov or Kasparov had to gain from prearranging match results, except to keep the title in the Russian family.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
In such situations men like MacVeigh and Pelliter do not waste precious moments in prearranging actions in words.
From Isobel : a Romance of the Northern Trail by Curwood, James Oliver
The peculiar ability they show in prearranging ceremonials fêtes of all kinds, and their undoubted genius for tactics and strategy, show that they are able to foresee effects with unusual clearness.
From Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development by Galton, Francis, Sir
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.
