These words suggest the accomplishment of whatever training or conditioning is necessary as a preface to action. Ready is the most general of these, suggesting anything from a momentary potential for a certain kind of behaviour to a long period of discipline prior to an undertaking: ready to tell her exactly what he thought of her; ready to perform his first heart operation. In the first kind of use, the word suggests a ripeness for action that may have been building up for some time; in the second it suggests a delicate process of attunement. Ready may also suggest something that is easily available: a ready answer to the complex question. Prepared stresses that aspect of ready that suggests the active, conscious deliberation and effort preceding action: a student thoroughly prepared for the grueling examination. A more general use of prepared stresses a psychic resilience by which one can face alternatives not necessarily known in advance: conscientious parents whose children are prepared for the disappointments as well as the joys of life; prepared for any eventuality. Set suggests plans that have become definite or preparations that are complete and final: all set for the big party: ready , set , go.

Disposed and willing emphasize a different aspect of the period just before action, stressing desire rather than training or even conditioning: He was willing to take on the immense job, though he was poorly prepared for it. While willing implies an agreeable or voluntary choice, disposed suggests an innate proclivity or a settled and favourable attitude towards the impending action; disposed as he was to telling the truth, he was hardly ready to confront her with all that he knew. In a use closer to ready or prepared , disposed suggests a last positioning previous to action: two battalions disposed for an attack on the air base.