- a variation of readymade.
ready-made
Americanadjective
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made in advance for sale to any purchaser, rather than to order.
a ready-made coat.
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made for immediate use.
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unoriginal; conventional.
noun
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something that is ready-made, as a garment or a piece of furniture or equipment.
adjective
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made for purchase and immediate use by any customer
a ready-made jacket
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extremely convenient or ideally suited
a ready-made solution
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unoriginal or conventional
ready-made phrases
noun
Etymology
Origin of ready-made
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50
Explanation
Ready-made things are standardized and bought right off the shelf, rather than being specially made. You might have to hem your ready-made curtains, but they're cheaper than having custom curtains sewn. Ready-made clothes are the ones you buy in stores or online that come in standard sizes. Custom, tailor-made, or bespoke clothing is the exact opposite — they're constructed to perfectly fit your body. Ready-made food is store-bought, and made commercially, not homemade. You can also use this adjective to describe something that's so quick and automatic it's become a cliche, like a politician's thoughtless, ready-made response to a reporter's question.
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.
Passive immunotherapy involves giving patients ready made antibodies to quickly control an infection, rather than waiting for the body's adaptive immune system to respond.
From Science Daily • Feb. 6, 2026
It didn’t take long for Christopher Bell to figure out Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt surface was ready made for drivers with dirt experience.
From Washington Post • Apr. 9, 2023
Villarreal: Are are there choices ready made differently or at a different point in your career?
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 7, 2022
He says they tried to outbid each other to "launch slogans and ready made phrases".
From BBC • May 6, 2021
Personally I have never yet seen a patient who could not take the ordinary iodides in some form or other, and I am opposed to ready made drugging.
From Arteriosclerosis and Hypertension: with Chapters on Blood Pressure, 3rd Edition. by Warfield, Louis Marshall
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.
