radiate
/ˈɹeɪdieɪt/
radiate verb: to extend, be sent or spread out from a center like radii.
Verb
radiate (third-person singular simple present radiates, present participle radiating, simple past and past participle radiated)
- To extend, be sent or spread out from a center like radii.
- Crewe North Motive Power Depot is to be modernised completely. This includes the provision of a new coaling plant, ash handling plant, and two new locomotive sheds of the latest roundhouse type, each with 32 roads radiating from a 70-ft. dia. turntable.1948 November and December, “Crewe M.P.D. to be Modernised”, in Railway Magazine, page 372
- Oban is not a terminus; its routes radiate by sea, rail and road.1994, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates
- To emit rays or waves.
- The stove radiates heat.
- To come out or proceed in rays or waves.
- The heat radiates from a stove.
- Light radiates from luminous bodies directly to our eyes.1706, John Locke, Elements of Natural Philosophy
- To illuminate.
- To expose to ionizing radiation, such as by radiography.
- Synonyms:
- irradiate
- To manifest in a glowing manner.
- Her face radiated joy. Her face radiated with joy.
- Slim, sensual Richard Hell radiates a commanding coolness.1978 August 19, Harold Pickett, “New York, New York”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 5, page 8
- To manifest itself in a glowing manner.
- Joy radiated from her face.
- Something radiated from him like a sheen: a drive, a self assurance, a fixity of purpose.2026 February 17, Hugh Muir, “A historic force to be reckoned with, a giant to be mourned. Our panel pays tribute to the Rev Jesse Jackson”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 19 Jun 2026
- To spread into new habitats, migrate.
- To broadcast by radio.
- Programmes marked thus will be radiated by Droitwich, but not by London and North National transmitters.1938, Radio Times, volume 59, number 761, page 25
Adjective
radiate (comparative more radiate, superlative most radiate)
- Radiating from a center; having rays or parts diverging from a center; radiated.
- a radiate crystal
- Surrounded by rays, such as the head of a saint in a religious picture; (heraldry) radiant.
- […] and (2) the radiate or Eastern crown, usually five rays being shown. The see of Ely bears the apocryphal coat of St. Ethelreda: gules, three open crowns or. Azure, three open crowns or, are the arms of[…]1915, Guy Cadogan Rothery, A. B. C. of Heraldry, page 240
- On a wreath of the colors argent and tenné four lightning flashes barbed radiate pilewise of the first, a Roman helm or garnished gules.2005, Rebecca R. Raines, Signal Corps, Department of the Army, page 117
- Having parts radiating from the center, like the petals in many flowers.
- Consisting of a disc in which the florets are tubular.
- Having radial symmetry, like a sea star.
- Belonging to the Radiata.
Noun
radiate (plural radiates)
- One of the Radiata.
radiate meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
radiate in Tamil
- உணர்ச்சியை வெளிப்படுத்து
radiate in Urdu
- چمکنا, روشن ہونا
radiate in Bengali
- বিকিরণ করা, ছড়ানো
radiate in Malayalam
- ചുറ്റിനും പ്രസരിക്കുക, സന്തോഷം ചൊരിയുക, വികിരണം ചെയ്യുക
More languagesFewer languages
- radiate in Kannada
- ಪ್ರಸರಿಸು, ಹರಡು, ಹೊರಸೂಸು, ವಿಕಿರಣಗೊಳಿಸು
- radiate in Persian
- فرتابیدن fartâbidan
Examples of radiate in a sentence
- The effective radiated power is determined by multiplying the transmitter power output with the antenna gain.
- Their entire national telephone network is isochronous, with a clock distribution tree radiating from a single, protected cesium reference clock.
- The track and the record, as a whole, radiates “I’m 14, and this is deep” energy.
Synonyms of radiate
Forms of radiate
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | radiates |
| present participle | radiating |
| past participle | radiated |
| past | radiated |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more radiate |
| superlative | most radiate |
| Noun | |
| plural | radiates |
Origin of radiate
Learned borrowing from Latin radiātus, perfect passive participle of radiō (“to radiate, furnish with spokes, give out rays, radiate, shine”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from radius (“a spoke, ray”).
Learned borrowing from Latin radiātus (see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more).
From a substantivation of the above adjective through the associated taxon's name (Radiata), see -ate (noun-forming suffix).
Words formed from radiate
Questions about radiate
- What does radiate mean?
- Radiate means to extend, be sent or spread out from a center like radii.
- What is radiate in Tamil?
- Radiate in Tamil is உணர்ச்சியை வெளிப்படுத்து. See Radiate meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is radiate?
- Radiate can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce radiate?
- Radiate is pronounced /ˈɹeɪdieɪt/.
- What is the past tense of radiate?
- The past tense of radiate is radiated.
Words near radiate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: radiate (page history and authors); radiate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); radiate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); radiate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); radiate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); radiate (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-radiate.wav.
Cite this entry: “radiate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/radiate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.