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Synonyms

oblate

1 American  
[ob-leyt, o-bleyt] / ˈɒb leɪt, ɒˈbleɪt /

adjective

  1. flattened at the poles, as a spheroid generated by the revolution of an ellipse about its shorter axis (opposed to prolate).

oblate 2 American  
[ob-leyt, o-bleyt] / ˈɒb leɪt, ɒˈbleɪt /

noun

  1. a person offered to the service of and living in a monastery, but not under monastic vows or full monastic rule.

  2. a lay member of any of various Roman Catholic societies devoted to special religious work.

oblate 1 British  
/ ˈɒbleɪt /

adjective

  1. having an equatorial diameter of greater length than the polar diameter Compare prolate

    the earth is an oblate sphere
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
oblate 2 British  
/ ˈɒbleɪt /

noun

  1. a person dedicated to a monastic or religious life

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • oblately adverb

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."

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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.

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

And yet, I must admit, that I have never cared for an oblate more than I care for William.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

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.