prostrate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb get into a prostrate position, as in submission
    bow down.
  2. verb render helpless or defenseless
    • They prostrated the enemy
  3. verb throw down flat, as on the ground
    • She prostrated herself with frustration
  4. adjective satellite stretched out and lying at full length along the ground
    flat.
    • found himself lying flat on the floor
  5. adjective satellite lying face downward
    prone.

WordNet

Pros"trate adjective
Etymology
L. prostratus, p. p. of prosternere to prostrate; pro before, forward + sternere to spread out, throw down. See Stratum.
Definitions
  1. Lying at length, or with the body extended on the ground or other surface; stretched out; as, to sleep prostrate Elyot.
    Groveling and prostrate on yon lake of fire. Milton.
  2. Lying at mercy, as a supplicant. Dryden.
  3. Lying in a humble, lowly, or suppliant posture.
    Prostrate fall Before him reverent, and there confess Humbly our faults. Milton.
  4. (Bot.) Trailing on the ground; procumbent.
Pros"trate transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Prostrated ; present participle & verbal noun Prostrating
Definitions
  1. To lay fiat; to throw down; to level; to fell; as, to prostrate the body; to prostrate trees or plants. Evelyn.
  2. to overthrow; to demolish; to destroy; to deprive of efficiency; to ruin; as, to prostrate a village; to prostrate a government; to prostrate law or justice.
  3. To throw down, or cause to fall in humility or adoration; to cause to bow in humble reverence; used reflexively; as, he prostrated himself. Milman.
  4. To cause to sink totally; to deprive of strength; to reduce; as, a person prostrated by fever.

Webster 1913