readymade

or read·y-made

[ red-ee-meyd ]

noun

1. an everyday manufactured object, as a bottle rack, a snow shovel, a urinal, or a comb, that may by the creative act of selection and designation by an artist attain status as a work of art: associated almost exclusively with the aesthetic activities of Marcel Duchamp during the period 1915 to 1917.

Word History and Origins

Origin of readymade¹

< French < English; term introduced by Duchamp in 1915

Example Sentences

Or maybe it's a kind of remade readymade, and gets its power from using Disney as "serious" contemporary art.

From The Daily Beast

It counts as a  readymade, of sorts, because like Duchamp's famous urinal it transplants a functional object into the art world.

From The Daily Beast

I think of this piece as a new Duchampian sub-species you might call a "hand-made readymade".

From The Daily Beast

They acquire all learning in their mother's womb, and bring it into the world readymade.

From Project Gutenberg

And that was devoted to what—readymade clothes, ski clothes, and that sort of thing?

From Project Gutenberg

When a readymade definition, admirably rendered, is at your command, why be at the pains of making a new one for yourself?

From Project Gutenberg

He spent the time surfing readymade coasters and checking the intranet for engineer availability.

From Project Gutenberg

But he couldn't get even the cheapest readymade dress-suit for fourteen dollars.

From Project Gutenberg