READY | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
/ Sign up
English (UK)

Meaning of ready in English

ready
adjective
uk
/ˈred.i/ us
/ˈred.i/

ready adjective (PREPARED)

Add to word list Add to word list
A1
prepared and suitable for fast activity:
[ + to infinitive ] Are you ready to leave?
ready to Are you ready to order, Madam?
ready when you are Okay, Evie, ready when you are (= I am ready to do what we have arranged).
Dinner's ready!
Are you ready? Hurry up - we're late.
get ready We're leaving at eight o'clock, so you've got half an hour to get ready.
ready for The army are said to be ready for action.
be made/got ready for something The concert hall was made/got ready (= prepared) for the performance.
ready and waiting
waiting and prepared to act:
Secret information allowed the police to be ready and waiting when the robbers came out of the bank.
See more
More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Available and accessible
See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

ready adjective (QUICK)

[ before noun ] mainly approving
quick with answers, jokes, solutions, etc.:
He had a ready reply to every question.
ready wit He was charming, with a ready wit (= the ability to quickly say clever and funny things).
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Intelligence
See more results »

Idioms

be ready to do something
be ready to roll
ready to hand
ready, set, go!
ready
noun
uk
/ˈred.i/ us
/ˈred.i/
at the ready
prepared to be used or to act immediately:
He stood by the phone, pencil at the ready.
See more
(Definition of ready from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

ready | American Dictionary

ready
adjective [ not gradable ]
us
/ˈred·i/

ready adjective [not gradable] (PREPARED)

Add to word list Add to word list
prepared and suitable for action or use:
Dinner is ready.
The twins are getting ready for bed.
[ + to infinitive ] I’m ready to go now.
[ + to infinitive ] "Are you ready to order?" the waiter asked.

ready adjective [not gradable] (WILLING)

willing:
My friends are always ready to help me out.

ready adjective [not gradable] (QUICK)

quick, esp. in answering or in thinking of what to say:
He had a ready reply to every question.
(Definition of ready from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

ready | Business English

ready
adjective [ before noun ]
uk
/ˈredi/ us
Add to word list Add to word list
available to be used at any time:
a ready source/supply
ready cash/money informal
money that is available to be spent immediately:
A demand by the court to pay the tax claim immediately would destroy the firm because it does not have enough ready cash.
(Definition of ready from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of ready

ready
We do not know, however, whether these figures were readied in every case.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
The reservists in such hybrid battalions should have a commitment similar to the old ever-readies.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
They readied a stage in their proceedings when they thought that a special inquiry would be useful.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
The third stage is readied when work is taken away from them compulsorily.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
If one of the panels by a majority dissents from the other three, then agreement is not readied.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
I hope that a decision will be readied very shortly.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
In consequence paint manufacturers who have specialised in paints suitable for war purposes will in many cases have readied record turnover figures.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Although one individual might be able to afford a case costing him £5,000, he might find it much more difficult to produce the readies for a case costing him £100,000.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
We have readied a perfect state of things in the railway world, wherein a man or woman charged with wrongful conduct has to be informed of the complaint.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
People were ready to combine efforts to obstruct any further act of (re)presentation in order to prevent their loss of control over it.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
However, as the vehicle was readied for production, this emphasis on tractor-like usage decreased and the centre steering proved impractical in use.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
We play a few games until the supper is ready.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
We are now ready to assign triangles to segments.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
We are now ready to obtain the final contradiction.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
We are ready to prove the main step in the upper bound.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of ready
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of ready?
 

Translations of ready

in Chinese (Traditional)
準備好的, 準備好的，有準備的, 現成的…
See more
in Chinese (Simplified)
准备好的, 准备好的，有准备的, 现成的…
See more
in Spanish
listo, preparado, listo/ta [masculine-feminine…
See more
in Portuguese
pronto, preparado, pronto/-ta…
See more
in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Russian
in Telugu
in Arabic
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
तयार, सज्ज / काही जलद कृती करण्यासाठी योग्य अवस्था…
See more
準備ができている, （食事の）支度ができている, 用意（ようい）ができている…
See more
hazır, yenilmeye/kullanıma/içilmeye hazır, istekli…
See more
prêt/prête, prêt/prête à, accessible…
See more
llest, a punt…
See more
klaar, bereid, snel…
See more
தயாரிக்கப்பட்ட மற்றும் வேகமான செயல்பாட்டிற்கு ஏற்றது…
See more
(किसी त्वरित गतिविधि हेतु) तैयार…
See more
તૈયાર, સજ્જ…
See more
parat, klar, hurtig…
See more
redo, klar, färdig…
See more
bersedia, berkehendakkan, cepat…
See more
fertig, bereit, rasch…
See more
klar, rede, ferdig…
See more
تیار…
See more
готовий, підготовлений, легкий…
See more
готовый…
See more
సిద్ధం కావడం…
See more
مُسْتَعِدّ, جاهِز…
See more
প্রস্তুত, তৈরি…
See more
připravený, hotový, ochotný…
See more
siap, bersedia, cepat…
See more
เตรียมพร้อม, เต็มใจ, รวดเร็ว…
See more
đã xong, đã sẵn sàng, nhanh…
See more
gotowy, przygotowany, chętny…
See more
(-할) 준비가 된, 완성된…
See more
pronto, disposto, sollecito…
See more
Need a translator?

Get a quick, free translation!

Translator tool
 

Browse

readjusted
readjusting
readjustment
readout
ready
ready and waiting phrase
ready meal
ready money
ready to hand idiom

Word of the Day

reptile

UK
/ˈrep.taɪl/
US
/ˈrep.taɪl/

an animal that produces eggs and uses the heat of the sun to keep its blood warm

About this

Blog

Worse than or worst of all? How to use the words ‘worse’ and ‘worst’

New Words

applejuicification

More new words
has been added to list
To top
Contents
EnglishAmericanBusinessExamplesTranslations
English (UK)   Change
English (UK) English (US) Español Русский Português Deutsch Français Italiano 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Polski 한국어 Türkçe 日本語 Tiếng Việt Nederlands Svenska Dansk Norsk हिंदी বাঙ্গালি मराठी ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు Українська
Follow us
Choose a dictionary
  • Recent and Recommended
  • Definitions
    Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English
    English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
  • Grammar and thesaurus
    Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English
    Grammar Thesaurus
  • Pronunciation
    British and American pronunciations with audio
    English Pronunciation
  • Translation
    Click on the arrows to change the translation direction.
    Bilingual Dictionaries
    • English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
    • English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
    • English–Dutch Dutch–English
    • English–French French–English
    • English–German German–English
    • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
    • English–Italian Italian–English
    • English–Japanese Japanese–English
    • English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
    • English–Polish Polish–English
    • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
    • English–Spanish Spanish–English
    • English–Swedish Swedish–English
    Semi-bilingual Dictionaries
    English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Danish English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese
  • Dictionary +Plus
    Word Lists
Contents
My word lists

To add ready to a word list please sign up or log in.

Sign up or Log in
My word lists

Add ready to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

More
Go to your word lists
Tell us about this example sentence: