preparation

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Act of preparing

Nouns

1. preparation, preparing; providing; provision, providence, pre-arrangement, anticipation, foresight, forethought; precaution, predisposition; plan; rehearsal; training, education (see teaching); inurement, habit; novitiate (see learning). See safety, precedence, earliness.

2. arrangement; tuning, adjustment (see agreement); equipment, outfit.

3. (preliminary work) groundwork, keystone, cradle, stepping-stone; foundation.

4. (types of preparation) cuisine, cooking, cookery, culinary art (see food); tilling, plowing, sowing, semination, cultivation; manufacture,

production.

5. preparedness, readiness, ripeness, mellowness; maturity, earliness.

6. (model used in preparation for something) prototype, original; model, pattern; precedent; standard, type; archetype; module, exemplary, example, paradigm; test, copy, design; drug, potion, etc.

7. preparer, trainer, teacher; pioneer, pathfinder, trailblazer; forerunner, advanceman.

Verbs

1. prepare; get or make ready; make preparations, settle preliminaries, get up, predispose; set or put in order (see arrangement); forecast, concoct, plan; lay the foundations, basis, or groundwork, pave the way; roughhew; nurture (see aid). Informal, dust off. Slang, prep.

2. (prepare something for a task) equip, ready, set, prime, attune; adjust, put in working order, put in tune; pack; prepare for, train, teach, rehearse; make provision for; take steps, measures, or precautions; provide, provide against, set one's house in order; clear the decks for action, pave the way for; batten down the hatches, weatherize.

3. prepare oneself, get set, line up; serve an apprenticeship; get into harness, gird up one's loins, hold on to one's hat, buckle on one's armor; wind up, shoulder arms, get up steam, draw or take a long breath; save for a rainy day; keep one's powder dry. Informal, get one's ducks in a row, haul off. Slang, get one's ass in gear.

Adjectives

1. preparing, in preparation, in embryo, in hand; brewing, hatching, brooding; in store for, in reserve; precautionary, provident; preparative, preparatory; provisional; under revision; preliminary (see precedence).

2. prepared, in readiness, at call, ready, handy, forthcoming; planned, strategic, schematic; in working order; of age, ripe; in practice; practiced, skilled; overqualified; in battle array, in war paint; armed to the teeth, sword in hand, armed at all points; booted and spurred, rough and ready; on alert, vigilant, semper paratus; at one's fingertips; turnkey. Informal, on the mark, all set, on tap, ready to roll, all systems go. Slang, loaded for bear.

Adverbs — in preparation, in anticipation of; against, for; under construction, afoot, afloat, under consideration, in the works, on foot. Informal, on the fire.

Phrases — for want of a nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, and for want of a horse the man was lost; strike while the iron is hot; [hope for the best and] prepare for the worst; a stitch in time saves nine; look before you leap; think first and speak afterward.

Quotations — Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come (Bible).

Antonyms, see neglect, unpreparedness.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [The act of preparing]

Syn. preparing, fitting, making ready, manufacture, readying, putting in order, establishment, compounding, adapting, rehearsal, incubation, gestation, building, construction, formation, maturing, anticipation, founding, foreseeing, development, homework, spadework, groundwork, evolution, furnishing, build-up*.

2. [The state of being prepared]

Syn. preparedness, readiness, fitness, adaptation, suitability, capacity, qualification, background, ripeness, mellowness, maturity, training, education, equipment.

3. [Something that is prepared]

Syn. arrangement, product, compound; see mixture 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. making ready arrangement, development, priming, establishment, groundwork, anticipation, *prep work, provision, framework, setting up, grooming, training.

2. concoction compound, mixture, composition, drug, prescription.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The condition of being made ready beforehand: preparedness, readiness. See PREPARED. 2. A plan made in preparation for an undertaking. Often used in plural: arrangement (often used in plural), provision (often used in plural). See PLANNED.