Ready is an adjective meaning prepared or willing to do something, or available for use. It implies a state of readiness, often with a sense of immediacy or suitability for a task. In everyday speech, it also surfaces in phrases like “Are you ready?” to signal completion of preparation and readiness to act.
"Are you ready to start the meeting?"
"The kit is ready for shipping tomorrow."
"She’s ready to try the new recipe after reading the manual."
"We’ll be ready in five minutes, so please wait outside."
Ready originates from the Old English word rǣd, meaning “counsel, decision, council, advice,” which evolved into the sense of being prepared or prepared to act. The evolution traces through Proto-Germanic *raidiz, related to the verb rædan “to advise, to advise someone,” reflecting a sense of being equipped with information or a plan. In Middle English, ready attested in phrases like “ready to hand” indicating something at hand or prepared for use, blending semantic strands of willingness and accessibility. The modern meaning of “prepared for use or action” crystallized in the 16th–17th centuries as English speakers started tying readiness to readiness to perform tasks or engage in activity. First known uses emphasize practicality and immediacy, as in readiness for a event, mission, or instruction, and as a general state of availability. The word’s resilience across dialects and its frequent collocation with verbs like “be,” “get,” and “make” (e.g., be ready, get ready, ready-made) reflect its central role in everyday coordination and planning.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Ready" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "Ready"
-me) sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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/ˈrɛd.i/ in US and UK; /ˈɹɛd.i/ in US-IPA with rhotics; in Australian English you’ll hear /ˈɹɛdi/ with a clear /ɹ/ and a short /e/ before /d/. The stress is on the first syllable. Open your mouth to /r/ with the tip curled slightly, then relax into /ɛ/ (like “bed”), followed by a light /d/ and a short /i/ (as in “bit”).
Mistakes include pronouncing it as /ˈrɛd/ without the final /i/ (dropping the second syllable), and saying /ˈrɪdi/ with an over-short first vowel. Correct by maintaining two syllables with /ˈrɛ/ then a quick /di/—practice with minimal pairs like red/ready and bet/beady to tune vowel length and consonant clarity.
US/UK: primary stress on the first syllable; US often rhotics with /ˈrɛdi/; UK tends to a non-rhotic or lightly rhotic variant depending on speaker. Australian: more centralized vowel in the first syllable, but still /ˈɹɛdi/ with clear /d/ and short /i/. Overall, the diphthongal carryover is minimal; focus on crisp /d/ and short /i/ in all.
The challenge lies in the quick transition from /ʃ/ or /ɹ/? Wait—for ready the core is /r/ to /ɛ/ to /d/ to /i/; the difficulty is keeping the /e/ in /ɛ/ tense while landing a clean /d/ and a short /i/. People often compress the second syllable or merge /ɹ/ with an approximant leading to a slurred /ˈrɛdi/.
A distinctive feature is the short, unstressed second syllable /di/ that often reduces in fast speech, sometimes sounding like /dɪ/ or /di/ depending on the speaker. The primary energy stays on /ˈrɛ/ while the /di/ is quick and light, which can cause listeners to momentarily perceive it as a single-syllable word in rapid dialogue.
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