prostrate
See also: prostate
English edit
Etymology edit
Latin prōstrātus, past participle of prōsternere (“to prostrate”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɒstɹeɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɑstɹeɪt/
- Hyphenation: pros‧trate
Adjective edit
prostrate (not comparable)
- Lying flat, face-down.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- Prostrate fall / Before him reverent, and there confess / Humbly our faults.
- 1945, Sir Winston Churchill, VE Day speech from House of Commons:
- Finally almost the whole world was combined against the evil-doers, who are now prostrate before us.
- (figuratively) Emotionally devastated.
- Physically incapacitated from environmental exposure or debilitating disease.
- He was prostrate from the extreme heat.
- (botany) Trailing on the ground; procumbent.
Translations edit
lying flat, facedown
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emotionally devastated
physically incapacitated from environmental exposure or debilitating disease
botany: trailing on the ground; procumbent — see procumbent
Verb edit
prostrate (third-person singular simple present prostrates, present participle prostrating, simple past and past participle prostrated)
- (often reflexive) To lie flat or face-down.
- (also figurative) To throw oneself down in submission.
- 1922, Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization[1], page 228:
- Those who had the privilege of approaching him, had to prostrate themselves before him in profound humility […]
- To cause to lie down, to flatten.
- 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XIV, page 175:
- How many of these mighty pines were to be prostrated under that approaching tempest!
- (figuratively) To overcome or overpower.
- 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:
- Why this very minute she's prostrated with grief.
Usage notes edit
- Prostrate and prostate are often confused, in spelling if not in meaning.
Related terms edit
Translations edit
to lie flat or face-down
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to throw oneself down in submission
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to cause to lie down
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See also edit
Anagrams edit
Italian edit
Etymology 1 edit
Verb edit
prostrate
- inflection of prostrare:
Etymology 2 edit
Participle edit
prostrate f pl
Latin edit
Participle edit
prōstrāte