locate
Americanverb (used with object)
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locates,
present (3rd person singular)
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located,
past participle, past
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locating
present participle
-
to identify or discover the place or location of.
to locate the bullet wound.
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to set, fix, or establish in a position, situation, or locality; place; settle.
to locate our European office in Paris.
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to assign or ascribe a particular location to (something), as by knowledge or opinion.
Some scholars locate the Garden of Eden in Babylonia.
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to survey and enter a claim to a tract of land; take possession of land.
verb (used without object)
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locates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
located,
past participle, past
-
locating
present participle
verb
-
(tr) to discover the position, situation, or whereabouts of; find
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(tr; often passive) to situate or place
located on the edge of the city
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(intr) to become established or settled
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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locaternoun
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prelocateverb
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interlocateverb (used with object)
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locatableadjective
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self-locatingadjective
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unlocatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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locatesimple
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locatessimple
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have locatedperfect
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has locatedperfect
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am locatingprogressive
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are locatingprogressive
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is locatingprogressive
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have been locatingperfect progressive
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has been locatingperfect progressive
Past
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locatedsimple
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had locatedperfect
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was locatingprogressive
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were locatingprogressive
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had been locatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of locate
An Americanism first recorded in 1645–55; from Latin locātus “placed,” past participle of locāre “to put in a given position, place,” verb derivative of locus “a place”; see locus
Explanation
If you wanted to decide where to locate your car wash, you might locate a spot on a map with lots of traffic, a parking lot, and a ready source of water. Locate means to find or place. If your mother can never locate her keys, it means she loses them all of the time and has to look all around the house before going out. If you move to a new place, usually for a job, you relocate. But if you decide to find a job that is located in your town, you call that staying local, which, like locate, derives from the Latin locus meaning "place."
Vocabulary lists containing locate
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Vocabulary of the Common Core
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Academic Vocabulary Toolkit 1, Words 51-60
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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:
Police Scotland Det Insp Ashley Gemmell, 42, told the court she seized the bloodstained jumper during inquiries to locate Brennan on 28 August.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
They didn’t locate any weapons, but they did find a pair of detached pistol magazines.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
I could locate no source for the middle mystery, but its theatrical setting is a favorite of such series; any that last long enough will eventually tread those boards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
There, doctors use ultrasounds to locate where the pregnancy has implanted.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
He could quickly locate the keys that he wanted—memory was never a problem with him—but he never learned to build up real speed without first peeking at the keyboard.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
When a store puts in an order, a robot locates the correct bin, grabs the tote using extendable metal arms and carries it to a glass elevator that delivers the item to a human.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
When a male locates a female tarantula, he “initiates a courtship ritual involving rhythmic tapping and vibration to signal his presence and avoid predation,” McCamish said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2025
Ms Wall locates the former burial sites using press images, local stories and flowers left on posts but said she had learnt to identify “very clear signs”.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2024
He still lives in Seattle, consults for transportation clients, and joined the board of a company that locates underground utility obstacles, like those which delayed the new Tacoma Link Hilltop Extension streetcar.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024
Once he locates one, he sits down at the table in the kitchen to write a note to his parents.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
She said most of the remains were located at the home and commercial property in Claremont.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
Expected to first launch from the spaceport located on Virginia’s coast next year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
A trust can help your estate avoid ancillary probate in the state where your mother’s home is located.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Then in March, BBC reporters again captured Bechi on hidden camera at another prayer event for Eid at his family home located in the same compound as the school.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
Hacienda Dorada was technically located somewhere in the wilderness between El Sacrificio and Ejido la Paloma.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
If a patient has an antibody against an antigen carried by nearly everyone else, locating compatible donor blood can require specialized laboratories, rare donor registries and sometimes international cooperation.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
The academic added that locating data centres in "the most sensible places" could mitigate how big those impacts are by using more wind energy.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
She appealed for help locating her parents and the other Malaysian pilgrims.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
Worse, locating and identifying people who have been in contact with Ebola patients is a tedious and frequently dangerous task.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Thus far he had had no luck at all in locating the Doctor, but at last his luck turned.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
Definitions 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.
