Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Lying with the front or face downward.
  • adjective Having a tendency; inclined. Often used in combination.
  • adverb In a prone manner.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Bending forward with the face downward; inclined; lying flat; not erect.
  • Lying with the face or front downward.
  • Specifically, in anatomy: Lying face downward; stretched at full length on the belly.
  • Lying with the palm downward; pronated, as the hand. In both senses, the opposite of supine.
  • Moving or sloping downward; descending; inclined.
  • Inclined by disposition or natural tendency; propense; disposed: usually in an ill sense.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Bending forward; inclined; not erect.
  • adjective Prostrate; flat; esp., lying with the face down; -- opposed to supine.
  • adjective Headlong; running downward or headlong.
  • adjective Sloping, with reference to a line or surface; declivous; inclined; not level.
  • adjective Inclined; propense; disposed; -- applied to the mind or affections, usually in an ill sense. Followed by to.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Lying face downward; prostrate (Wikipedia).
  • adjective Having a downward inclination or slope.
  • adjective Shooting from a lying down position.
  • adjective Predisposed, liable, inclined.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective lying face downward
  • adjective having a tendency (to); often used in combination

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, inclined, disposed, from Latin prōnus, leaning forward; see per in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin prōnus ("turned forward, bent or inclined").

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Examples

Comments

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  • I never realised this meant lying face-down; I thought it was just "lying flat" (face up or down).

    January 25, 2011

  • I wonder whether prunes lie prone?

    January 27, 2011

  • Are you particularly prune-prone?

    January 28, 2011

  • I've not had that problem, no.

    January 28, 2011