US /ˈɑbleɪt/ UK /ˈɒbleɪt/
adj noun

Meanings

  1. 1
    adj

    flattened at the poles, as a spheroid; or a layperson dedicated to monastic life

    The Earth is an oblate spheroid, slightly squashed at its poles.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 adj · flattened at the poles, as... flattenedellipsoidal
Opposites
prolate
Word family
Derived forms oblateness
Related forms oblationoblatory

Etymology

From Latin oblatus ('offered up', used as suppletive past participle of offerre, 'to offer'); the geometric sense was coined by analogy with prolate, from ob- plus latus ('borne, carried').

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