oblate
|ob-late|
🇺🇸
/ˈɑːbleɪt/
🇬🇧
/ˈɒbleɪt/
flattened / offered
Etymology
'oblate' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'oblatus' (past participle). In English it took senses both from 'ob-' + 'latus' meaning 'broad/flattened' (giving the geometric/botanical sense) and from the past participle sense 'offered' (giving the ecclesiastical sense).
'oblate' in the geometric sense comes from Latin 'oblatus' formed from 'ob-' + 'latus' ('broad'), which described something flattened or spread out and passed into Late Latin and then Middle French/Medieval Latin before becoming English 'oblate'. The religious sense derives from Latin 'oblatus' as the past participle of 'offerre' (ob- + ferre 'to carry'), meaning 'one offered', which entered English usage to denote persons offered or attached to monastic communities.
Initially in Latin 'oblatus' could mean 'brought near/offered' or 'flattened/broad' depending on formation; over time English preserved both specialized meanings: 'flattened/broader-than-tall' for shapes and 'a person offered/affiliated to a monastery' for the ecclesiastical sense.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a person (originally one offered) affiliated with a religious community, especially a lay person dedicated to a monastery without taking full monastic vows.
After years of service he became an oblate of the abbey.
Synonyms
Adjective 1
flattened at the poles; (of a spheroid) having the polar diameter shorter than the equatorial diameter.
Because of its rapid rotation, the planet is oblate rather than a perfect sphere.
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Adjective 2
having a shape that is broader in one dimension and flattened in another; broadly flattened or disk-like (used of leaves, fruits, etc.).
The leaf has an oblate form, spreading wide and shallow.
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Last updated: 2025/12/11 01:22