prēˈpa(a)(ə)r, prə̇ˈ-, -pe(ə)r, -pa(a)ə, -peə verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English preparen, from Middle French preparer, from Latin praeparare, from prae- pre- + parare to prepare, procure — more at pare
transitive verb
1.
a. : to make ready beforehand for some purpose : put into condition for a particular use, application, or disposition
telling him to cut the weeds and to prepare ground for winter crops — Elizabeth M. Roberts
prepared the guest room for their visitor
prepared the patient for the operation
b. : to make ready for eating
would rather starve to death than eat food prepared over such fires — J.G.Frazer
c. : to put into a suitable state of mind for something
prepared her gradually for the shocking news
prepared the people for a long struggle
d. : to equip with necessary knowledge and skill (as for a specific profession, occupation, or test) : educate , train
prepared himself for the legal profession — Current Biography
preparing pupils for college entrance examinations — D.E.Smith
2.
a. : to get ready beforehand : procure as suitable or necessary : provide
given the job of preparing the equipment for the trip
b. : to work out beforehand : plan the details of : get ready
prepared his strategy for the coming campaign
3. : to become proficient in beforehand : study or work on for a particular purpose or occasion
prepared his assignment for the next day
the players prepared their parts — Malcolm Muggeridge
4.
a. : to put together : compound
prepared a vaccine from live virus
prepared the doctor's prescription
b. : make , produce
unsuccessful in his attempts to prepare the metal by electrolysis — Encyc. Americana
c. : to put into written form : draw up
prepared and issued a vigorous manifesto — Britain Today
directed the commission to prepare proposals for the regulation, limitation, and balanced reduction of all armed forces — Americana Annual
5.
a. : to anticipate and modify (as a dissonance or its effect) by sounding the dissonant tone in the preceding consonant musical chord
b. : to lead up to (as a tone or an ornament) by a prefatory tone
a prepared trill
6. : to lead up to
the age of peace and prosperity that prepared the war — F.R.Leavis
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to make oneself ready : get ready
he prepared for teaching
b. : to arrange things in readiness : make ready
the nation prepared for war
2. archaic : to get ready for a journey or expedition
are actually preparing for England — Robert Bage
Synonyms:
fit , qualify , condition , ready : prepare is a rather general term indicating a process, purposive, considered, and involving various steps whereby something is made ready
prepare a large meal
prepare the ground for spring crops
prepare a patient for an operation
prepare oneself for the ministry
preparing a speech on the subject
I had intended, when the time came, to prepare a second edition of this book — T.S.Eliot
fit may indicate equipping and repairing; it may apply to the process of training and gradually remedying deficiencies and acquiring skills, crafts, accomplishments, attitudes for some specific activity or situation
about 60 destroyers fitted with echo-ranging gear — J.P.Baxter b. 1893
I had fitted myself to do everything, from sweeping out to writing the editorials and keeping the bank account — W.A.White
the soldier's efforts to fit himself into the new world made possible by his sweat and blood — Dixon Wecter
parents whose duty it is to fit children for carrying on life — Herbert Spencer
qualify may imply formal fulfillment of requirements or definite experience or accomplishment demonstrating fitness
a qualified accountant
qualified to practice medicine
combined with a subsequent three years of seminary training, it qualifies graduates to enter into the ministry of the church — American Guide Series: Michigan
teams winning in the qualifying rounds
condition may indicate the steady, cumulative course or process of bringing into a certain condition, often a careful procedure for achieving a certain desired condition
compulsory education, the press, the cinema, and the wireless are weapons possibly even stronger than the atom bomb, and the art of using them for the conditioning of men's minds and characters is much enhanced by modern developments in psychology and sociology — Walter Moberly
these early circumstances and experiences profoundly conditioned him — Carl Van Doren
the religious emotion to which I had been conditioned in my childhood — R.M.Lovett
ready may apply to quick preliminary equipping, ordering, and preparing immediately before entering into some activity or function
the whole town took part in helping to ready the outdoor theater — Marguerite Johnson
under this great silvery dome they were readying the 200-inch eye for its night's vigil on the universe — G.W.Gray b. 1886
the expedition readied itself during the summer at the little Dutch town of Helvoet Sluys — Oscar Handlin
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- prepare the way