prostration
/pɹɒsˈtɹeɪʃən/
prostration noun: the act or condition of prostrating oneself (lying face-down), as a sign of humility.
Noun
prostration (countable and uncountable, plural prostrations)
- The act or condition of prostrating oneself (lying face-down), as a sign of humility.
- A part of the ordination of Catholic and Orthodox priests, in which the ordinand lies prostrate in a gesture of submission to the will of God.
- The ordination ceremony includes a variety of rituals, rich in meaning and history, e.g., the prostration, laying on of hands, anointing of hands, giving of the chalice and paten, and sign of peace. — Diocese of Rochester, NY
- The state of lying face down (prone).
- The condition of being prostrated, as from heat; complete loss of strength.
- I slept after the prostration of the day, with a stringent and profound slumber which not even the nightmares that wrung me could avail to break.1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 135
- A reverential bow performed in Middle Eastern cultures.
- Their faith can be seen in their mannerisms on the pitch – cupping hands in silent pre-kick-off prayer or prostration after hitting the back of the net.2018 March 1, Tusdiq Din, “Mohamed Salah: Is Liverpool Striker’s Success Improving Engagement with Muslim Fans?”, in BBC Sport
- Synonyms:
- sujud
Proper noun capitalized: Prostration
Prostration
prostration meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
prostration in Hindi
- Translations
- दंडवत daṇḍvat
prostration in Tamil
- சக்தி இழத்தல், ஆற்றல் இழப்பு, உடல் ஆற்றலிழப்பு
prostration in Urdu
- prostration
- سجدہ sajda
prostration in Bengali
- ভূমিষ্ঠ হওয়ার অবস্থা, চরম অবসাদ
More languagesFewer languages
- prostration in Malayalam
- തള്ളിയിടൽ, ബലക്ഷയം, ക്ഷീണം
- prostration in Gujarati
- સિજદો sijdo
- prostration in Arabic
- سُجُود sujūd
- prostration in Malay
- sujud
Synonyms of prostration
Forms of prostration
| plural | prostrations |
|---|
Origin of prostration
From Middle English prostracioun, prostracyon, from Middle French prostration and its etymon Latin prōstrātiō, from prōstrātus, past participle of prōsternō. By surface analysis, prostrate + -ion.
Words formed from prostration
- heat prostration
- nervous prostration
Questions about prostration
- What does prostration mean?
- Prostration means the act or condition of prostrating oneself (lying face-down), as a sign of humility.
- What is prostration in Hindi?
- Prostration in Hindi is दंडवत (daṇḍvat). See Prostration meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is prostration?
- Prostration can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce prostration?
- Prostration is pronounced /pɹɒsˈtɹeɪʃən/.
- What is the plural of prostration?
- The plural of prostration is prostrations.
Words near prostration in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prostration (page history and authors); Prostration (page history and authors); prostration (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); سجدہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); prostration (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prostration (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); સિજદો (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-prostration.wav.
Cite this entry: “prostration.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prostration. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.