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
Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Feb. 2026
About 20 flies were on the wall behind the front counter over a flip-top cooler and food prep area.
—David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026
Tamim Alnuweiri, InStyle, 3 Mar. 2026
Sunnier days are right around the corner, meaning the time to prep your wardrobe with the biggest spring dress trends of 2026 is now.
—Alison Syrett Cleary, Glamour, 2 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for prep
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
Planning spring gardening prep?
—Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Feb. 2026
About 20 flies were on the wall behind the front counter over a flip-top cooler and food prep area.
—David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026
Verb
The Age Reversal Moisturizer was used to prep her skin for 2026 the Actor Awards (formerly SAG Awards).
—Tamim Alnuweiri, InStyle, 3 Mar. 2026
Sunnier days are right around the corner, meaning the time to prep your wardrobe with the biggest spring dress trends of 2026 is now.
—Alison Syrett Cleary, Glamour, 2 Mar. 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 7 Mar. 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?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
