prone
English
Etymology
From Middle English prone, proone, proon, from Latin prōnus (“turned forward, bent or inclined”), from prō (“forward”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /pɹəʊn/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /pɹoʊn/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -əʊn
Adjective
prone (comparative proner or more prone, superlative pronest or most prone)

prone and supine position
- Lying face downward.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- But they had already discovered that he could be bullied, and they had it their own way; and presently Selwyn lay prone upon the nursery floor, impersonating a ladrone while pleasant shivers chased themselves over Drina, whom he was stalking.
- Of the hand, forearm or foot: turned facing away from the body; with the thumb inward or big toe downward.
- the hand is in the prone position typically when using a keyboard; and the forearm is then also in the prone position; when the foot is resting on the inner side of the sole, it is in the prone position.
- Having a downward inclination or slope.
- (figuratively) Predisposed, liable, inclined.
- prone to failure
- 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 141”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
- Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted; / Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone, / Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited / To any sensual feast with thee alone: […]
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
lying face downward; prostrate
|
inclined, sloped
|
shooting from lying down position
predisposed
|
Verb
prone (third-person singular simple present prones, present participle proning, simple past and past participle proned)
- (medicine) To place in a prone position, to place face down.
Derived terms
Further reading
prone position on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Latin
References
- “prone”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “prone”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- prone in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- prone - Latin is Simple Online Dictionary
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.