prepped; prepping
: prepare
especially
: to prepare for an operation or examination
nurses prepped the patient
pre-exposure prophylaxis
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that PrEP, when used consistently, can reduce the risk of H.I.V. infection by up to 92 percent.—
Ginia Bellafante
Ginia BellafanteExamples of prep in a Sentence
Noun
Painting a room involves a lot of prep.
Verb
She spent all night prepping for the test.
The runners are prepping themselves for the race.
It took me about 20 minutes to prep the vegetables.
Recent Examples on the Web
Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 11 June 2026
Charlotte’s gourmet take-and-bake scene has only grown since CharlotteFive’s Shannon wrote an original guide to local meal prep shops — and a brand-new uptown spot just joined the lineup.
—Charlotte Observer, 11 June 2026
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 9 June 2026
Elite runner Nicholas Bester, who hits 140 km+ per week, used Pulsetto in his everyday activities to prep for sessions and stay fresh.
—Samantha Agate, Kansas City Star, 4 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for prep
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Noun
Add in the transfer-portal impact, in which colleges can retool and restock without even signing prep prospects — and landing a full ride has never been more of a daunting task.
—Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 11 June 2026
Charlotte’s gourmet take-and-bake scene has only grown since CharlotteFive’s Shannon wrote an original guide to local meal prep shops — and a brand-new uptown spot just joined the lineup.
—Charlotte Observer, 11 June 2026
Verb
Each course should be a toast to someone or something that has had an impact on them, and the chefs will have $2,000 to shop, five hours to prep that day, and two hours the next day.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 9 June 2026
Elite runner Nicholas Bester, who hits 140 km+ per week, used Pulsetto in his everyday activities to prep for sessions and stay fresh.
—Samantha Agate, Kansas City Star, 4 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for prep
Cite this Entry
“Prep.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prep. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
prep
1 of 3 noun
: the act or an instance of preparing a patient for a surgical operation
the nurse had three preps to do
prep
2 of 3 transitive verb
prepped; prepping
: to prepare for a surgical operation or examination
prep the patient for an appendectomy
PrEP
3 of 3 abbreviation
pre-exposure prophylaxis
The introduction of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has shown significant promise in reducing the rate of HIV incidence. … Although nearly 1.2 million people could benefit from PrEP, AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) estimates that ~130,000–135,000 individuals were actively on PrEP in late 2019—meaning <15% of individuals in need of PrEP had a current prescription.—Benedikt Pleuhs et al., AIDS Patient Care and STDs
Benedikt Pleuhs et al., AIDS Patient Care and STDsLove words? Need even more definitions?
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