different between prostrate vs reclining

English

Etymology

Latin pr?str?tus, past participle of pr?sternere (“to prostrate”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??st?e?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p??st?e?t/
• Hyphenation: pros?trate

Adjective

prostrate (not comparable)

1. Lying flat, face-down.

   Synonym: prone

   Antonym: supine

   • 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.
3. Physically incapacitated from environmental exposure or debilitating disease.

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

Translations

Verb

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

2. (often reflexive) To lie flat or face-down.
3. (also figuratively) To throw oneself down in submission.
4. To cause to lie down, to flatten.
5. (figuratively) To overcome or overpower.
   • 1936, Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind

     Why this very minute she's prostrated with grief.

Usage notes

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

Related terms

• prostration

Translations

See also

• kowtow

Anagrams

• Perrottas

Italian

Verb

prostrate

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

Latin

Participle

pr?str?te

1. vocative masculine singular of pr?str?tus

English

Adjective

reclining (not comparable)

1. Capable of being reclined, or moved into a more horizontal position.

   a reclining armchair

2. (botany) Bending away from the perpendicular; recumbent.

Verb

reclining

1. present participle of recline

Noun

reclining (plural reclinings)

1. The act of one who reclines.
   • 1865, Edward Dutton Cook, Sir Felix Foy, Bart. (page 233)

     Mr. Disbrowe was reclining on a well-worn horsehair-covered sofa, his frequent reclinings on which piece of furniture had stamped a deep and quite ineffaceable impression of his weighty form upon the cushion.