recumbent

[ ri-kuhm-buhnt ]
See synonyms for recumbent on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. lying down; reclining; leaning.

  2. inactive; idle.

  1. Zoology, Botany. noting a part that leans or reposes upon its surface of origin.

noun
  1. a recumbent person, animal, plant, etc.

Origin of recumbent

1
1765–75; <Latin recumbent- (stem of recumbēns), present participle of recumbere to lie back, equivalent to re-re- + cumb-, akin to cubāre to lie down + -ent--ent

Other words for recumbent

Other words from recumbent

  • re·cum·ben·cy, re·cum·bence, noun
  • re·cum·bent·ly, adverb
  • un·re·cum·bent, adjective
  • un·re·cum·bent·ly, adverb

Words Nearby recumbent

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use recumbent in a sentence

  • Behind the altar in this chapel is an internationally famous white marble, recumbent "Figure of Lee" which Valentine created.

  • Instantly, at the sight of this recumbent figure, another change took place in the entrapped butler.

    The Circular Study | Anna Katharine Green
  • Lieutenant Overton gave a gasp of dismay as his gaze fell upon the recumbent forms of six of his men, every one of them bound.

British Dictionary definitions for recumbent

recumbent

/ (rɪˈkʌmbənt) /


adjective
  1. lying down; reclining

  2. (of a part or organ) leaning or resting against another organ or the ground: a recumbent stem

  1. (of a fold in a rock formation) in which the axial plane is nearly horizontal

Origin of recumbent

1
C17: from Latin recumbere to lie back, from re- + cumbere to lie

Derived forms of recumbent

  • recumbence or recumbency, noun
  • recumbently, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012