oblate
1 Americanadjective
noun
-
a person offered to the service of and living in a monastery, but not under monastic vows or full monastic rule.
-
a lay member of any of various Roman Catholic societies devoted to special religious work.
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of oblate1
1695–1705; < New Latin oblātus lengthened, equivalent to Latin ob- ob- + ( prō ) lātus prolate
Origin of oblate2
1860–65; < Medieval Latin oblātus, suppletive past participle of offerre to offer
Explanation
Something that's oblate is rounded, but instead of being a perfect sphere, it's flattened slightly on the top and bottom. Although we imagine the Earth to be shaped like a basketball, it's actually slightly oblate. In the case of our oblate home planet, its poles are a bit flat because of the effects of gravity as it rotates. To get a good mental image of an oblate shape, picture a lentil — while a pea is spherical, a lentil looks like it's been squashed flat. The opposite of oblate is prolate, like an American football. Though it shares a Latin root with the adjective, the noun version of oblate has a completely different meaning, "dedicated religious person."
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.
Dr Dimitris Stamatellos, reader in astrophysics at UCLan, said these young planets are oblate spheroids - spheres squashed from the top and the bottom but bulging in the middle.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2024
But no sight was as foreign as the sun’s oblate disk, which hugged the horizon, traveling not up or down but sideways.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 15, 2019
These rapid rotators spin so fast that their shapes are “flattened” into what we call oblate spheroids.
From Textbooks ● Oct. 13, 2016
The track, called "Flatline," samples a NdGT speech in which he talks about the Earth being an "oblate spheroid," which honestly does sound suspicious.
From The Verge ● Jan. 26, 2016
Frogs croaked aggressively at the young oblate, each croak like a curse.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
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