prostrate

Latin prōstrātus, past participle of prōsternere (“to prostrate”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒstɹeɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑstɹeɪt/
• Hyphenation: pros‧trate

prostrate (not comparable)

1. Lying flat, face-down.

   Synonym: prone

   Antonym: supine

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     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.

2. (figuratively) Emotionally devastated.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Gone With the Wind

     [Mammy to Scarlett] I told him you was prostrate with grief.

3. Physically incapacitated from environmental exposure or debilitating disease.

   He was prostrate from the extreme heat.

4. (botany) Trailing on the ground; procumbent.

prostrate (third-person singular simple present prostrates, present participle prostrating, simple past and past participle prostrated)

1. (often reflexive) To lie flat or face-down.
2. (also figuratively) To throw oneself down in submission.
3. 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!

4. (figuratively) To overcome or overpower.

• Prostrate and prostate are often confused, in spelling if not in meaning.

• prostration

• kowtow

• Perrottas

prostrate

1. second-person plural present indicative of prostrare
2. second-person plural imperative of prostrare
3. feminine plural of prostrato

prōstrāte

1. vocative masculine singular of prōstrātus