elongate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
elongates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
elongated,
past participle, past
-
elongating
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
elongates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
elongated,
past participle, past
-
elongating
present participle
adjective
-
extended; lengthened.
-
long and thin.
verb
adjective
-
long and narrow; slender
elongate leaves
-
lengthened or tapered
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
elongatesimple
-
elongatessimple
-
have elongatedperfect
-
has elongatedperfect
-
am elongatingprogressive
-
are elongatingprogressive
-
is elongatingprogressive
-
have been elongatingperfect progressive
-
has been elongatingperfect progressive
Past
-
elongatedsimple
-
had elongatedperfect
-
was elongatingprogressive
-
were elongatingprogressive
-
had been elongatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of elongate
1530–40; < Late Latin ēlongātus lengthened out, past participle of ēlongāre to make longer, make distant, remove, equivalent to Latin ē- e- 1 + -longāre, derivative of longus long 1, longē far off
Explanation
When you lengthen or extend something, you elongate it. A yoga teacher might encourage you to reach up as high as you can, so that you elongate your spine. The verb elongate means "to make long or longer," and it stems from the Late Latin elongare, "to extend or prolong." When you stretch something out, especially when it's longer than it is wide, you can say you elongate it. This word can also apply to non-tangible things: Your principal might elongate the semester if you have too many snow days, and you might elongate your vowels when speaking a foreign language. In science, it's also used as an adjective, for long, narrow creatives like elongate fish (otherwise known as eels).
Vocabulary lists containing elongate
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
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Hide and Seeker
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Women in Space
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“That way we don’t need to create completely new infrastructure for our solutions and elongate the commercialization cycle,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Fifa was able to elongate a matchday at either end, with games scheduled over a 14-hour period so it could stay true to exclusive time windows for television coverage.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
“If Intel’s view of CPU-to-GPU reaching parity with agents proves right, we think that can help elongate the memory cycle,” Sankar said.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 2026
When stretched, solids elongate until they reach a critical stress point, then break suddenly in a process known as brittle fracture.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 30, 2026
They elongate their wings, hiss and hiccup, then fly toward me.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
In males, it grows from a small cluster of cells into a little white pimple that elongates between the eyes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025
Near-sightedness, formally known as myopia, occurs when the eye elongates, causing light to focus in front of the retina instead of directly on it, producing blurry vision.
From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2025
The exquisite chamber-soul arrangement thrums inexorably yet with zero hurry; the vocal precisely elongates each phrase just a tick or two beyond where you expect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2025
So it elongates, causing the light rays to fall in front of the retina and the myopia to progress.
From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2023
Brown shades of eye shadow appear on her lids, and mascara elongates her lashes.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
It was a third loss in four games played inside 10 days as part of the newly elongated international break.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Up close, its elongated head, skeletal body and glistening double set of jaws reveal just how much unsettling detail goes into a creature often glimpsed onscreen in darkness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
And AI is forcing us all to ponder: What are we supposed to do with our elongated lives if technology wipes out the jobs that once gave us purpose?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
As a result, the resonance acts like an escape route from the main asteroid belt, pushing objects into elongated orbits that cross the paths of planets.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
One of the flower-adorned microraptors took that moment to let out an elongated fart, which sent the crowd into an explosion of laughter.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
“The drivers of HDD demand are broadening, visibility is elongating, pricing is strengthening, and our new bull cases are coming closer into play,” Woodring wrote.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
Traditionally, skiers negotiate the steepest terrain of a course by feathering their skis at a slight diagonal and elongating their stride to help them conserve energy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
“Lukaaaaa,” Smart said, elongating Luka Doncic’s name while smiling toward his star teammate who was sitting with his feet in an ice bucket with ice bags wrapped around his knees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025
At the BJK Cup in Malaga, Raducanu spoke about tweaking her service motion and elongating the takeback in a search for extra power.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2025
He’s wearing an olive cap and army fatigues, and his curly, graying beard floats below his chin, elongating his tired features.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
