platform

Syllables: plat·form/ˈplætfɔːm//ˈplætfɔɹm/

platform noun: a raised stage from which speeches are made and on which musical and other performances are made. Also the ellipsis of platform shoe.

Noun

platform (plural platforms)

A raised stage from which speeches are made and on which musical and other performances are made.
- Always, whether in the pulpit or on the platform, as in private conversation, there is an absolute simplicity about the man and his words; a simplicity, an earnestness, a complete honesty.1915, Russell H. Conwell, Robert Shackleton, chapter IV, in Acres of Diamonds, His Life and Achievements
- “[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
Synonyms:

dais, podium
A raised floor for any purpose, e.g. for workmen during construction, or formerly for military cannon.
(figuratively) A place or an opportunity to express one's opinion.
- This new talk show will give a platform to everyday men and women.
- [LeBron] James did not say which vaccine he had taken or the number of doses he had received. He also said that he would not use his platform to publicly encourage others to be vaccinated.2021 September 28, Scott Cacciola, “LeBron James said he was vaccinated, after previously evading the question.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
Synonyms:

tribune
(figuratively) Something that allows an enterprise to advance.
- Hidgson may actually feel England could have scored even more but this was the perfect first step on the road to Rio in 2014 and the ideal platform for the second qualifier against Ukraine at Wembley on Tuesday.2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport
Synonyms:

foundation, stage
(figuratively) A political stance on a broad set of issues, which are called planks.
- Now if the earth could be enjoyed in such a manner as every one might have provision, as it may by this platform I have offered, then will the peace of the commonwealth be preserved, and men need not act so hypocritically as the clergy do, and others likewise, to get a living.1652, Gerrard Winstanley, chapter 1, in The Law of Freedom in a Platform
- The Communist Party and its candidates stand on the following platform, which expresses the immediate interests of the majority of the population of our country.1936, Communist Election Platform 1936, New York City: Workers Library Publishers, page 6
A raised structure or other area alongside rails or a driveway alongside which vehicles stop to take in and discharge passengers.
- We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine.[…]As we reached the lodge we heard the whistle, and we backed up against one side of the platform as the train pulled up at the other.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
- People on the platforms / Waiting for the trains / I can hear their hearts a-beatin’ / Like pendulums swinging on chains1997, Bob Dylan, “Tryin' to Get to Heaven”, in Time Out of Mind
A specific stopping place on one of multiple tracks at a station, numbered or otherwise named.
- “Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine — platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don’t seem to have built it yet, do they?”1997 June 26, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter; 1), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN
Synonyms:

track
(Internet) A software system used to provide online services to clients, such as social media, e-commerce, or cloud computing.
- Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71
- In fact, wealth and power are shifting to those who control the platforms on which all of us create, consume, and connect.2014, Astra Taylor, “Preface”, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN
A particular operating system or environment such as a database or other specific software; a particular type of computer or microprocessor, used for running other software.
- That program runs on the X Window System platform.
- “We used to produce our publication on the Mac, but the Wintel platform is cheaper and there are just as many applications available. So it just seemed to make sense to give up the religious war and get on with the business of doing our job,” said the information systems manager at a New York-based...1996 September 23, “Intel attacks Mac publishing niche”, in Computerworld, volume 30, number 39, →ISSN, page 56
A flat expanse of rock, often the result of wave erosion.
- Wave erosion causes a sea cliff to migrate landward, leaving a gently sloping surface, called a wave-cut platform. A wave-built platform originates by deposition at the seaward margin of the wave-cut platform.2019, Reed Wicander, James S. Monroe, Geology: Earth in Perspective, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 319
A light deck, usually placed in a section of the hold or over the floor of the magazine.
(obsolete) A plan; a sketch; a model; a pattern.
- His destruction intended by queene Quendred, hir platforme of the practise to kill him.1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC
(Myanmar) A sidewalk.

Verb

platform (third-person singular simple present platforms, present participle platforming, simple past and past participle platformed)

(transitive) To furnish with or shape into a platform
- […] upon a smiling knoll platformed by Nature […]1885, Frances Elliot, The Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily, page 192
(transitive) To place on, or as if on, a platform.
- And this dog was satisfied / If a pale thin hand would glide / Down his dewlaps sloping / Which he pushed his nose within, / After—platforming his chin / On the palm left open.1844, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, To Flush, My Dog
To place a train alongside a station platform.
- There he was welcomed onboard Vivarail's new three-car battery-powered train and Porterbrook's HydroFLEX hydrogen-powered train, which had been platformed side-by-side to showcase the potential of these low-carbon alternative technologies.2021 December 1, Paul Stephen, “Network News: Battery and hydrogen trains showcased to PM at COP26”, in RAIL, number 945, page 14
(transitive) To include in a political platform
- Among them I scarcely can plot out one truth / Plain enough to be platformed by some voting sleuth / And paraded before the precinct polling-booth.1955, Amy Lowell, Complete Poetical Works, page 408
(transitive) To publish or make visible; to provide a platform for (a topic etc.).
- We want to platform the larger, unspoken issue of menstrual health and hygiene of women at work, and how we as a society need to start taking cognizance of it and start adopting measures to help our women workforce navigate it with ease.2020 May 28, Bhumika Popli, “Menstrual Hygiene Day: Changing mindsets with ‘period leave’”, in The New Indian Express
- If Buckley were still alive today, could a university get away with platforming him in a debate?2020 July 29, Conor Friedersdorf, “Purity Politics Makes Nothing Happen”, in The Atlantic
Antonyms:

deplatform, no-platform
(transitive) To open (a film) in a small number of theaters before a broader release in order to generate enthusiasm.
- But serious movies are not necessarily good movies. A studio that decides to platform a film had better be sure the film will get the necessary good reviews and audience approval. Otherwise, like United Artists' "A Small Circle of Friends," which was platformed around the same time as "The Elephant...1981 September 2, Aljean Harmetz, “Comes Fall, a Chance for Serious Movies?”, in The New York Times, page C21
- Each of these films will be "platformed," the industry term to describe the strategy of opening a movie first in a limited number of theaters to give it an aura of exclusivity, then having its appeal build through word of mouth.1993 November 25, Bernard Weinraub, “For Movie Industry, Thanksgiving Means A Box-Office Feast”, in The New York Times, page C11
(obsolete, transitive) To form a plan of; to model; to lay out.
- I have ſaid what is meet to ſome who do not think it for the eaſe of their inconſequent Opinions, to grant that Church-Diſcipline is platform'd in the Bible, but that it is left to the diſcretion of Men.1642, John Milton, The Reason of Church-Government Urg’d against Prelaty; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume I...

Also used as

platform is also the ellipsis of platform shoe.

platform is also the ellipsis of car platform.

platform meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

platform in Hindi

stage for speeches and performances: मंच mañc
raised floor for any purpose: चबूतरा cabūtrā
travel: raised structure for passengers: चबूतरा cabūtrā, प्लेटफ़ॉर्म pleṭfŏrm

platform in Marathi

travel: raised structure for passengers: फलाट phalāṭ

platform in Urdu

travel: raised structure for passengers: چَبُوتْرا cabūtrā, پِلَیٹ فورْم pilaiṭ form

More languagesFewer languages

platform in Bengali: প্ল্যাটফর্ম
platform in Telugu: ప్లాట్ఫాం, వేదిక, ప్లాట్ఫారమ్
platform in Malayalam: പ്ലാറ്റ്ഫോം
platform in Kannada: ವೇದಿಕೆ, ಪ್ಲಾಟ್ಫಾರ್ಮ್, ವೇದಿಕೆಯ
platform in Punjabi: ਪਲੇਟਫਾਰਮ, ਪਲੈਟਫਾਰਮ
platform in Gujarati: પ્લેટફોર્મ
platform in Odia: ପ୍ଲାଟଫର୍ମ, ମଞ୍ଚ, ପ୍ଲାଟ୍ଫର୍ମ
platform in Nepali: प्लेटफर्म, मञ्च, प्लेटफार्म
platform in Arabic: مِنَصَّة minaṣṣa, رَصِيف raṣīf
platform in Malay: platform
platform in Indonesian: platform, pentas, panggung, pelataran
platform in Thai: ชานชาลา chaan-chaa-laa
platform in Vietnamese: sân ga, nền tảng
platform in Myanmar: စင် cang

Examples of platform in a sentence

Surely there is nothing strange or new or threatening about such a platform.1972, Mike Gravel, Citizen Power: A People's Platform, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, →ISBN, page xii:
The promise of the platform business model is its magical self-reinforcement: Once the platform is in place, money is supposed to flow through the system without much extra effort at all.2021 September 15, Reeves Wiedeman, “Why Does Every Company Now Want to Be a Platform?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
“We used to produce our publication on the Mac, but the Wintel platform is cheaper and there are just as many applications available.1996 September 23, “Intel attacks Mac publishing niche”, in Computerworld, volume 30, number 39, →ISSN, page 56:
Half of the lawsuits against Pina also named Envy (real name: Raashaun Casey), blaming the DJ for platforming Pina on The Breakfast Club and social media.2023 December 17, Andrew Lawrence, “It platformed an alleged fraudster. Can hip-hop’s biggest radio show survive the fallout?”, in The...

All 40 example sentences with platform

Synonyms of platform

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of platform

Forms of platform

Noun
plural	platforms
Verb
third-person singular present	platforms
present participle	platforming
past participle	platformed
past	platformed

Plural of platform: platforms

Origin of platform

From Middle French plateforme (“a flat form”), from plate (“flat”) (from Old French plat, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “flat”)) + forme (“form”) (from Latin fōrma (“shape; figure; form”)); compare flatscape.

Words formed from platform

Phrases with platform

10 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about platform

What does platform mean?: Platform means a raised stage from which speeches are made and on which musical and other performances are made.
What is platform in Hindi?: Platform in Hindi is मंच (mañc), चबूतरा (cabūtrā), प्लेटफ़ॉर्म (pleṭfŏrm). See Platform meaning in Hindi.
How do you use platform in a sentence?: Surely there is nothing strange or new or threatening about such a platform.
What part of speech is platform?: Platform can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce platform?: Platform is pronounced /ˈplætfɔːm/ (UK).
What is the plural of platform?: The plural of platform is platforms.

Words near platform in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-platform.ogg, en-GB-platform.ogg.

Cite this entry: “platform.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/platform. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.