Preparedness

//pɹɪˈpɛə(ɹɪ)dnɪs// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state of being prepared. uncountable, usually

    "preparedness for battle"

  2. 2
    the state of having been made ready or prepared for use or action (especially military action) wordnet
  3. 3
    Precautionary measures in the face of potential disasters. uncountable, usually

    "The Federal Emergency Management Agency has halted the release of hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency preparedness grants, requiring states to prove their population counts before they can access the money, the agency told CNN."

Synonyms

All synonyms
readinessreadinessabilityalertnessanticipationappeasement

Example

More examples

"New studies by the Global Virome Project, a worldwide effort to increase preparedness for pandemics, indicate the world can expect about five new animal-borne pathogens to infect humans each year, creating a sense of urgency to curb the wild animal trade."

Etymology

From prepared + -ness.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.