unprepared
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Not ready or properly equipped for what is going to happen.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnpreepehrdSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənpɹiˈpɛɹd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Not prepared; caught by surprise.
noun
A black mark given to a pupil who arrives at a lesson without the necessary items or preparation.
Understand the Word
How this word is built, and what each part adds.
Unprepared means the person or thing has not been made ready for what is coming.
- un-
- lacking, without
- prepared
- made ready in advance
Prefix function , Lacking or without
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A black mark given to a pupil who arrives at a lesson without the necessary items or preparation.
Used this way, unprepared is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in education or classroom contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Education/classroom
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: black mark given to a pupil who arrives at a lesson without the necessary items
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.