Other forms: arranged, arranging, arranges
Arrange means to put things where you want them, in the order you want them. You arrange the chairs in a circle before a meeting, arrange flowers in a vase, arrange your books so the tall ones stand together.
The other big use is planning. You arrange a meeting, arrange a lift to the airport, arrange FOR someone to feed the cat while you are away — that FOR is how you bring another person into the plan. The noun is arrangement, and it covers both halves: the arrangement of the furniture, and the arrangements for the wedding. In music, to arrange a song is to rewrite it for different instruments, and the arranger's name sits beside the composer's. Watch the pattern with time: you arrange TO meet someone, and you arrange something FOR a date.
1verborderTo put things in a particular order or position.~15%
“He arranged the photographs on the table until he was happy with them.”
synonyms: order, organise, lay out
2verbarrangeTo plan and organize the details of something in advance.~75%
“We arranged a meeting for Thursday morning.”
synonyms: organise, set up
3verbadaptTo adapt a piece of music so that it can be played by particular instruments or voices.~10%
“She arranged the old folk song for four voices.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 20 sentences found in the wild and placed 20 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Arrange started on a battlefield. Middle English arrangen meant to draw up a battle line, from Old French arangier, to put in a line or a row, built on ranc, a line or rank — a word French had taken from Frankish hring, a ring. Every time you arrange the chairs, you are lining up troops.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)ker- (turn)
Old French
arangier
Middle English
arengen
English, today
arrange
Built from
From Middle English arengen, from Old French arangier. Inherited from Middle English arengen, arrangen (“to draw up a battle line”), borrowed from Old French arengier, arangier (“to put in a line, put in a row”), derived from reng, rang, ranc (“line, row, rank”), from Frankish hring (“ring”), from Proto-Germanic hringaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European (s)krengʰ-, a form of Proto-Indo-European (s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA