unprepared

English

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Germanic *un-

Proto-West Germanic *un-

Old English un-

Middle English un-

English un-

English prepare

English -ed

English prepared

English unprepared

From un- + prepared.

Adjective

unprepared (comparative more unprepared, superlative most unprepared)

1. Not prepared; caught by surprise.

   Synonyms: (informal) unprepped, flat-footed

   The castle was unprepared for the assault.

   • 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954:

     “It'll be all right,” I assured her. “Make a rule for yourself not to speak to anyone, and nobody's going to guess you can see. It was only being quite unprepared that landed you in that mess before. ‘In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king’.”

   • 1985, Cathleen Jordan, Alfred Hitchcock's no harm undone, page 113:

     I was unprepared for the change in attire and started slightly when the alectryomancer reappeared.

Derived terms

• unpreparedly
• unpreparedness

Translations

not prepared

• Armenian: անպատրաստ (hy) (anpatrast)
• Bulgarian: неподготвен (bg) (nepodgotven)
• Czech: nepřipravený
• Danish: uforberedt
• Dutch: onvoorbereid (nl)
• Esperanto: senprepara
• Finnish: valmistautumaton
• German: unvorbereitet (de)
• Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌼𐌰𐌽𐍅𐌿𐍃 (unmanwus)
• Greek: απαράσκευος (el) (aparáskevos)

  Ancient Greek: ἀπαράσκευος (aparáskeuos)

• Hungarian: felkészületlen (hu)
• Irish: neamhullamh, anullamh
• Latin: imparātus
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uforberedt

• Polish: nieprzygotowany (pl)
• Russian: неподгото́вленный (ru) (nepodgotóvlennyj), негото́вый (ru) (negotóvyj)
• Slovak: nepripravený
• Ukrainian: непідгото́влений (nepidhotóvlenyj)

Noun

unprepared (plural unprepareds)

1. A black mark given to a pupil who arrives at a lesson without the necessary items or preparation.
   • 1983, Ronald B. Lansing, Skylarks and lecterns: a law school charter, page 116:

     "He's got another rule: Whenever he gets three unprepareds in a row, he leaves the classroom."

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

unprepared

1. simple past and past participle of unprepare