Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The condition of being ready; the state of being adapted or in condition for immediate use or action; present preparedness or fitness; ready availability or qualification.
  • noun Ready action or movement; instant facility or aptitude; promptness; quickness: as, readiness of thought or of speech; readiness in offhand drawing.
  • noun Ready disposition; present willingness; mental preparedness.
  • noun Synonyms Readiness, Facility. Expertness, Knack, promptitude aptness, preparation, preparedness, inclination. The first four words agree in meaning that the person can do a thing with ease and quickness. Readiness emphasizes promptitude: as, readiness in repartee. Facility by derivation emphasizes ease, whether partly natural or wholly-acquired. (See ease, n.) Expertness is facility acquired: as, expertness with the pen, at figures, in working a sewing-machine; it is primarily physical, and especially manual, but also mental. Knack is a familiar word, applying to facility or expertness viewed as a happy and rather surprising possession of skill or faculty.

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

  • noun The state or quality of being ready; preparation; promptness; aptitude; willingness.

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

  • noun the state or degree of being ready

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

  • noun prompt willingness
  • noun a natural effortlessness
  • noun the state of having been made ready or prepared for use or action (especially military action)
  • noun (psychology) being temporarily ready to respond in a particular way

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

ready +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • Whatever your communitys values are, articulating the mission of a parent-school alliance creates clarity and what I call readiness for change.

    Childhood Unbound Ron Taffel 2009

  • That may be the place where we can address what we call the readiness gap even before students get to kindergarten.

    CNN Transcript Jan 13, 2009 2009

  • Whatever your communitys values are, articulating the mission of a parent-school alliance creates clarity and what I call readiness for change.

    Childhood Unbound Ron Taffel 2009

  • Since the 1970s, several schools scattered around New Hampshire have placed kindergarteners in what they call readiness classes for up to a year before starting first grade; the classes are usually smaller and promote social development as much as academics.

    Eugenics is Alive and as Sick as Ever in Rockland County, New York Jim Horn 2008

  • Since the 1970s, several schools scattered around New Hampshire have placed kindergarteners in what they call readiness classes for up to a year before starting first grade; the classes are usually smaller and promote social development as much as academics.

    Archive 2008-06-01 Jim Horn 2008

  • The selective service system plans what it calls a readiness exercise.

    CNN Transcript Dec 22, 2006 2006

  • Everything in readiness, I made a line fast to the apex of the shears and carried it directly to the windlass.

    Chapter 35 2010

  • Mrs. McFee, emerging from the supper-room where all was in readiness, caught one flash of the blazing, questing eyes through the silken mask - slits, and received a start.

    THE SCORN OF WOMEN 2010

  • Our soldiers were in readiness to clear the court of its noisy vermin.

    Chapter 17 2010

  • Next day, the mast-steps clear and everything in readiness, we started to get the two topmasts aboard.

    Chapter 35 2010

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