How to Use prostrate in a Sentence

prostrate

1 of 2 adjective
  • The doctor leaves his dead son and prostrate wife to go with the excited young man.
    Kurt Vonnegut, The New Yorker, 23 Nov. 2020
  • She was found prostrate on her bed by her mother, who had come by the apartment to take her to a court appearance.
    Lisa W. Foderaro, New York Times, 19 June 2017
  • But then things got a little crazy: A prostrate woman had caused a small pileup, and Ms. Ma was heading straight for it.
    Dan Levin, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2018
  • More videos emerged of prostrate victims, exhausted nurses and lines of coffins.
    New York Times, 26 Mar. 2020
  • The two other sub-plants have not yet gone into the swoon of death (stems doubled over under the weight of heavy leaves lying prostrate on the ground) and will likely be just fine.
    Bonnie Blodgett, Twin Cities, 3 June 2017
  • It was inspired by Slive’s fight with prostrate cancer and works to fund research and promote awareness.
    Giana Han, al, 27 Sep. 2019
  • Lawrence Rines, after a quick manège of low jetés, stepped through his seven prostrate comrades like an NFL running back doing the tire drill.
    Jeffrey Gantz, BostonGlobe.com, 11 Mar. 2018
  • Scores of fellow believers were prostrate in the middle of the avenue, praying before the start of the city’s Muslim Day parade.
    Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times, 24 Sep. 2017
  • Thomas Hayer, a twenty-two-year-old member of the Newark Mosque, fired insurance rounds at the prostrate Malcolm, hitting him in his left ankle.
    Les Payne, The New Yorker, 27 Aug. 2020
  • The technique is deft and the maneuver swift as the instructor first levers his pupil onto one side, then pivots to leave him prostrate and immobilized on the dark blue mat.
    Stephen Castle, New York Times, 22 Nov. 2020
  • He's had one recurrence of the cancer since his initial treatment, and also faced prostrate cancer.
    John Fritze, baltimoresun.com, 27 Aug. 2017
  • Some lay prostrate, guiding themselves over foam rollers, while others had their legs wrapped in compression bands or bulky massage boots.
    Lindsay Crouse, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017
  • The question is never just a question; the subject is helpless to her storytelling, a rigorous empathy that was like refuge to the Duke and Duchess, who have long been prostrate to the narratives of the tabloids.
    Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2021
  • Ere this dust cleared away, photographers, motion picture men and souvenir hunters had scrambled over the ruins of the prostrate tower like ants teeming about a disturbed hill.
    sandiegouniontribune.com, 19 Mar. 2018
  • The lead androgynous figure pulls a cart with a prostrate form (one of two in the piece, which provide much of the work’s tension) atop that could be either victim or royalty, depending on the viewer’s frame of mind.
    Lillian Dondero, ELLE Decor, 14 June 2019
  • People often confuse clover with another three-leafed, prostrate plant called wood sorrel.
    Steve Bender, Southern Living, 15 May 2020
  • In England, youth soccer players of all backgrounds can be found commemorating their goals as Salah does, raising their hands skyward and kneeling prostrate in sujud on the field.
    Grant Wahl, SI.com, 29 May 2018
  • Terrence sat down on the pavement where someone had painted the white silhouette of a prostrate body, its hands manacled behind its back and angelic wings spreading from its shoulders.
    Luke Mogelson, The New Yorker, 15 June 2020
  • The corpse of Hamlet’s father (Coster, nimbly swapping parts before our eyes) lies prostrate on a table strewn with ghastly funeral flowers, a tourniquet dangling from his arm.
    Charles McNulty, latimes.com, 19 Aug. 2017
  • Masked officers carried away prostrate protesters and hurled them into police vans.
    The Economist, 15 June 2019
  • Since the election will be, more than anything else, a referendum on Trump, Biden may not need much more than a pulse to win this year, especially given the prostrate economy and Trump’s incompetent handling of the pandemic.
    Bruce Bartlett, The New Republic, 1 June 2020
  • Masked security forces carried away prostrate protesters and hurled them into police vans.
    The Economist, 10 June 2019
  • The understory is planted in white roses, prostrate rosemary, succulent blue chalksticks (Senecio mandraliscae), day lilies and many other beautiful, not too thirsty, plants.
    Nan Sterman, sandiegouniontribune.com, 3 Aug. 2017
  • Take that iconic photograph of Muhammad Ali standing triumphantly over the prostrate, semiconscious wreckage of Sonny Liston.
    Alaska Dispatch News, 28 June 2017
  • Complaining of regulation run riot in the past, his most enthusiastic supporters celebrate the smallest changes as heroic efforts to restore freedom to a nation that lies prostrate and humiliated before all-powerful bureaucrats.
    Cass Sunstein, Twin Cities, 18 Oct. 2019
  • The doctor leaves his dead son and prostrate wife to go with the excited young man.
    Kurt Vonnegut, The New Yorker, 23 Nov. 2020
  • She was found prostrate on her bed by her mother, who had come by the apartment to take her to a court appearance.
    Lisa W. Foderaro, New York Times, 19 June 2017
  • But then things got a little crazy: A prostrate woman had caused a small pileup, and Ms. Ma was heading straight for it.
    Dan Levin, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2018
  • More videos emerged of prostrate victims, exhausted nurses and lines of coffins.
    New York Times, 26 Mar. 2020
  • The two other sub-plants have not yet gone into the swoon of death (stems doubled over under the weight of heavy leaves lying prostrate on the ground) and will likely be just fine.
    Bonnie Blodgett, Twin Cities, 3 June 2017
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prostrate

2 of 2 verb
  • The alacrity with which Hong Kong's private firms sought to prostrate themselves before the state drew scorn in the global business press.
    Fortune, 24 Aug. 2019
  • Keep your arms out while prostrating your upper body toward the floor.
    Malia Wollan, New York Times, 9 May 2018
  • Her mother stopped to help and a white crowd attacked, leaving the mother prostrate with a gaping hole in her head.
    Allison Keyes, Smithsonian, 30 June 2017
  • Many of the visitors prostrated themselves at her feet and then took selfies.
    Niha Masih, Washington Post, 13 June 2019
  • One protester crawled part of the route prostrated on her hands and knees, dragging bricks and empty soda cans behind her.
    NBC News, 8 Dec. 2019
  • The Establishment, on the other hand, is terrified of any schism, and willing to prostrate itself in the service of unity.
    Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, 28 Sep. 2017
  • Inside a mosque in the college town of Eugene, a half-dozen men prostrated themselves on a carpet while another man led the midday prayers.
    Washington Post, 9 June 2017
  • Charlotte Eliot, 77 years old, resident of Greater Boston, popped over to see her son in London, stayed for 10 weeks, and left him prostrate with neurosis.
    James Parker, The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2022
  • Others came to venerate the teacher, prostrating at his feet.
    Eliza Griswold, The New Yorker, 23 July 2019
  • In the Visa Temple, where devotees leave their shoes, phones, and purses at the door before prostrating to Balaji, the string of attacks seem to strengthen people’s appeals to God.
    Suman Naishadham, Slate Magazine, 3 Apr. 2017
  • Local officials across hard-knock America prostrate themselves for a chance to host it.
    Vauhini Vara, The Atlantic, 12 Feb. 2021
  • The monks, all old men, prostrate themselves in unison with the congregation, while a band of musicians makes a whining cacophony with their zithers in the background.
    Hanya Yanagihara, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Jan. 2022
  • Customers had to trudge to a mattress store and awkwardly prostrate themselves on numerous surfaces before choosing one to use for a decade.
    Farhad Manjoo, New York Times, 27 July 2016
  • This year, a host of American cities vilely prostrated themselves to Amazon in the hopes of winning its promised, new second headquarters.
    Bruce Sterling, The Atlantic, 12 Feb. 2018
  • But my resolution wasn’t a self-righteous, self-prostrating chore.
    Max De Haldevang, Quartz, 27 Dec. 2019
  • Cheney’s once promising career in the House of Representatives was over, at least for now, a casualty of her refusal to prostrate herself at the altar of Trump.
    Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2022
  • During that service, in a sign of humble obedience, Francis prostrated himself for a few minutes on the basilica floor.
    NBC News, 11 Apr. 2020
  • Cities and states, for one, seem eager to prostrate themselves and blame themselves for not offering up the greatest financial sacrifice of public money.
    Patrick Sisson, Curbed, 14 Nov. 2018
  • Naird’s situation is of a man with ramrod-straight posture prostrated and disarrayed at many odd angles.
    Troy Patterson, The New Yorker, 28 May 2020
  • Behind them lay almost unimaginable trials and privations that resulted in the deaths of three of their group, prostrated many with illness and forced each to endure long periods of hunger.
    Larry Rohter, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Apr. 2023
  • Not even South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham may dream to prostrate himself so completely.
    Kyle Whitmire, al, 15 Nov. 2019
  • Perry, having prostrated himself before the Senate, was confirmed in March.
    Bess Levin, The Hive, 26 July 2017
  • Nevertheless, Musk seems to go out of his way to prostrate himself before Chinese authorities.
    Michael Schuman, The Atlantic, 4 Nov. 2022
  • Without a Jagjaguwar deal, the team debated continuing to prostrate themselves to labels.
    Steven Zeitchik, Washington Post, 15 June 2019
  • Dressed in funereal black, Mr Taguchi (pictured) prostrated himself in contrition before a scrum of reporters after his release on bail for drugs charges.
    The Economist, 12 Sep. 2019
  • In a display of reverence, all attendees of the Assembly humbly prostrated themselves, paying their respects to the Collection.
    Jon Stojan, USA TODAY, 25 July 2023
  • Such actions are unprecedented in Thailand, where those waiting for a royal motorcade regularly sit on the ground or prostrate themselves.
    Grant Peck and Chris Blake, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 Oct. 2020
  • His father merely wanted Mugur to prostrate himself with repentance and patriotic vows.
    Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 8 Nov. 2021
  • Inside is a waxwork model of Menelik sitting on his original throne; some visitors prostrate themselves in deference.
    The Economist, 7 Nov. 2019
  • The public became accustomed to images of generals and politicians prostrating themselves in front of their constitutional monarch.
    Hannah Beech, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prostrate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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