pros·trate
(prŏśtrāt́)
[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.]
transitive verb: -trat·ed, -trat·ing, -trates.
- 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)
- To cause to lie flat: The wind prostrated the young trees.
- 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.
adjective
- Lying face down, as in submission or adoration.
- Lying flat or at full length.
- Reduced to extreme weakness or incapacitation; overcome.
- Botany Growing flat along the ground.
derivatives
- prośtrátor
- noun