Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or process of preparing.
  • noun The state of having been made ready beforehand; readiness.
  • noun An action done to prepare for something, especially for an event or undertaking.
  • noun A substance, such as a medicine, prepared for a particular purpose.
  • noun The anticipation of a dissonant tone by means of its introduction as a consonant tone in the preceding chord.
  • noun The dissonant tone so anticipated.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of preparing or making ready; qualification for a particular use, service, or application; adaptation to an end; training; equipment.
  • noun Formation; composition; manufacture: as, the preparation of gunpowder; the preparation of glycerin.
  • noun A measure or means taken beforehand to secure a certain result; a preparatory proceeding or circumstance.
  • noun The state of being prepared or in readiness; preparedness.
  • noun That which is equipped or fitted out.
  • noun That which results from mental or moral training; qualification; accomplishment.
  • noun That which is prepared, manufactured, or compounded: as, a chemical preparation; a preparation of oil and wax.
  • noun In anatomy, an animal body or any part of it prepared for anatomical purposes, or preserved to display parts already dissected.
  • noun In counterpoint and strict musical composition generally: that treatment of the voice-parts whereby a dissonance in any chord is introduced as a consonance in the preceding chord, and simply held over into the dissonant chord by its own voice-part, while the others move;
  • noun a consonant tone in any voice-part which is thus about to become a dissonance.
  • noun The day before the sabbath or any other Jewish feast-day. Also called day of the preparation (Mat. xxvii. 62). Compare parasceve.
  • noun Eccles., devotions or prayers used by the celebrant or officiant, assistants, choristers, etc., before the eucharistic or other offices.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of preparing or fitting beforehand for a particular purpose, use, service, or condition; previous arrangement or adaptation; a making ready
  • noun The state of being prepared or made ready; preparedness; readiness; fitness.
  • noun That which makes ready, prepares the way, or introduces; a preparatory act or measure.
  • noun That which is prepared, made, or compounded by a certain process or for a particular purpose; a combination. Specifically: (a) Any medicinal substance fitted for use. (b) Anything treated for preservation or examination as a specimen. (c) Something prepared for use in cookery.
  • noun obsolete An army or fleet.
  • noun (Mus.) The holding over of a note from one chord into the next chord, where it forms a temporary discord, until resolved in the chord that follows; the anticipation of a discordant note in the preceding concord, so that the ear is prepared for the shock. See Suspension.
  • noun obsolete Accomplishment; qualification.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable The act of preparing or getting ready.
  • noun That which is prepared.
  • noun countable A substance, especially a remedy, that is prepared.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the cognitive process of thinking about what you will do in the event of something happening
  • noun the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat
  • noun preparatory school work done outside school (especially at home)
  • noun activity leading to skilled behavior
  • noun a substance prepared according to a formula
  • noun the activity of putting or setting in order in advance of some act or purpose
  • noun the state of having been made ready or prepared for use or action (especially military action)
  • noun (music) a note that produces a dissonant chord is first heard in a consonant chord

Etymologies

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Examples

  • A potentially explosive case, two years in preparation, is now before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

    Archive 2009-11-01 2009

  • He has several more titles in preparation, is eyeing the international market.

    Distribution Sharon Bakar 2005

  • He has several more titles in preparation, is eyeing the international market.

    Archive 2005-02-01 Sharon Bakar 2005

  • To determine just how unbalanced teacher preparation is at ed schools, we counted the number of course titles and descriptions that contained the words “multiculturalism,” “diversity,” “inclusion,” and variants thereof, and then compared those with the number that used variants of the word “math.”

    Adding Up to Failure « Isegoria 2008

  • The ingredients are easy to find and the preparation is a breeze.

    Archive 2006-05-01 2006

  • The ingredients are easy to find and the preparation is a breeze.

    Almond Fingers 2006

  • Camilla was still carrying on a vast arrangement which she called the preparation of her trousseau, but which both Mrs French and Bella regarded as a spoliation of the domestic nest, for the proud purposes of one of the younger birds.

    He Knew He Was Right 2004

  • The very nature of the duty, which we call preparation, doth inevitably include this, that the time for it must be antecedent to the great duty of observing the ordinance itself.

    Sacramental Discourses 1616-1683 1968

  • Camilla was still carrying on a vast arrangement which she called the preparation of her trousseau, but which both Mrs French and Bella regarded as a spoliation of the domestic nest, for the proud purposes of one of the younger birds.

    He Knew He Was Right Anthony Trollope 1848

  • And, before Christ by his graces and comforts comes to any for salvation, preparation is made for him by repentance, which is called the preparation of the gospel of peace, Eph. vi.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721

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