unpreparedness

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Lack of preparation

Nouns

1. unpreparedness, unreadiness, improvidence, imprudence; inadvertence (see inattention); negligence; improvisation, unpremeditation (see impulse); immaturity, prematurity. See earliness, neglect.

2. [state of] nature, absence of art; virgin soil, fallow ground, unweeded garden; raw material, diamond in the rough; rough copy; embryo, germ.

3. improvisation, extemporization; improviser. Informal, ad-lib. Slang, ear

man.

Verbs

1. lie fallow, live from hand to mouth, take no thought of tomorrow; take aback (see surprise).Informal, cook up, go off half-cocked.

2. extemporize, improvise, whip or cook up. Informal, ad-lib. Slang, wing it.

Adjectives

1. unprepared, unready, untutored, undrilled, unexercised; untaught, uneducated, uncultured; unqualified, disqualified, unfit[ted], ill-fitted, unsuited, ineligible; unorganized, unarranged, unfurnished, unprovided, unequipped, untrimmed. Informal, flat-footed.

2. immature, unripe, raw, green; uncooked, unboiled, unconcocted, undigested, ill-digested, unmellowed, unseasoned, unleavened; crude, coarse, rough[cast], rough-hewn, in the rough; unhewn, unformed, unfashioned, unwrought, unpolished.

3. rudimentary, rudimental, embryonic, in ovo, vestigial, inchoate, abortive, premature; undeveloped, unhatched, unfledged, unlicked, unnurtured; incomplete, imperfect.

4. fallow, unsown, untilled, uncultivated, unplowed, idle; in a state of nature, natural; undressed, in dishabille, en déshabillé.

5. shiftless, improvident, empty-handed; negligent, unguarded, thoughtless, caught napping.

6. unpremeditated, improvised, improvisatory, improviso, extemporaneous, extempore, extemporary, impromptu, offhand; unintentional; off the top of one's head, ad hoc. Informal, off the cuff.

Adverbs — unpreparedly, extemporaneously, extempore, impromptu, offhand, without preparation, on the spur of the moment.

Phrases — the unexpected always happens.

Quotations — Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary (R. L. Stevenson).

Antonyms, see preparation, expectation.