prostrate

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“
He lies so--prostrate, motionless--for upward of an hour, then slowly and heavily he rises.

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Definitions (24)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. transitive verb To put or throw flat with the face down, as in submission or adoration: "He did not simply sit and meditate, he also knelt down, sometimes even prostrated himself” (Iris Murdoch).
  2. transitive verb To cause to lie flat: The wind prostrated the young trees.
  3. transitive verb To reduce to extreme weakness or incapacitation; overcome: an illness that prostrated an entire family; a nation that was prostrated by years of civil war.
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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • The prostrate, ampulae, and seminal vesicles all have roles to play in the storage and delivery of sperm cells. —  CattleNetwork
  • She accepts only the homage of the prostrate, and scorns the offerings of those who stand erect. —  Cynical-C Blog
  • But he affected to be prostrate, and Smithson could not insist. —  Phantom Fortune, a Novel
  • He lies so--prostrate, motionless--for upward of an hour, then slowly and heavily he rises. —  A Terrible Secret
  • Not that she ever fainted or gave way: she was made of the sterner metal of the two, and could last on while he was prostrate And sometimes he was prostrate--prostrate in soul and spirit. —  Framley Parsonage
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

helpless ·  prone ·  motionless ·  speechless ·  unable ·  limp ·  hapless ·  defenseless ·  insensible ·  inert ·  daze ·  senseless
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English prostraten, from prostrat, prostrate, from Latin prōstrātus, past participle of prōsternere, to throw down : prō-, forward; see pro-1 + sternere, to spread, cast down; see ster-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Latin prostratus, past participle of prosternere (later Italian prosternere, prosternare = Spanish Portuguese prosternar = French prosterner), strew in front of, throw down, overthrow, from pro, before. in front of, + sternere, spread out, extend, strew: see stratus, strew.
  2. from Middle English prostrat = Old French prostré, from Latin prostratus, past participle of prosternere, strew in front of: see prostrate, v.
 

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/ˈprɑstreɪt/
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