Meanings
present singular third person locates · participle present locating · participle past located · past located
- transitiveTo place; to set in a particular spot or position.
The captives and emigrants whom he brought with him were located in the trans-Tiberine quarter.
1881, Brooke Foss Westcott, The New Testament in the Original Greek1 more example
The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.
2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68 - transitiveTo find out where something is located.
I really can't locate the sever files.
2 more examples
In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter. Their densities range from that of styrofoam to iron.
2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 184The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He[…]played a lone hand,[…]. Most lone wolves had a moll at any rate—women were their ruin—but if the Bat had a moll, not even the grapevine telegraph could locate her.
1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01 - transitiveTo designate the site or place of; to define the limits of (Note: the designation may be purely descriptive: it need not be prescriptive.)
to locate a mining claim
3 more examples
The council must locate the new hospital.
to locate (the land granted by) a land warrant
1862-1892, Herbert Spencer, System of Synthetic Philosophy That part of the body in which the sense of touch is located.
Synonyms: site
- colloquialintransitiveTo place oneself; to take up one's residence; to settle.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo designate the site or place of; to define the limits of (Note: the designation may be purely descriptive: it need not be prescriptive.)
More synonyms by meaning
verbdiscover the location of; determine the place of; find by searching or examining
verbdetermine or indicate the place, site, or limits of, as if by an instrument or by a survey
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Catalan localizar
- localizarto learn where something is located
Danish lokalisere, lokalisere
- lokalisereto learn where something is located
- lokaliseredesignate the site or place of
Esperanto lokigi, lokiĝi
- lokigito place; to set in a particular spot or position
- lokiĝi(intransitive) to place oneself; to take up one's residence
Finnish sijoittaa, sijoittaa
- sijoittaato place; to set in a particular spot or position
- sijoittaadesignate the site or place of
French localiser, se poser
- localiserdesignate the site or place of
- se poser(intransitive) to place oneself; to take up one's residence
German orten
- ortento place; to set in a particular spot or position
Greek εντοπίζω
- εντοπίζω (entopízo)to place; to set in a particular spot or position
Hungarian helyez, elhelyez
- helyezto place; to set in a particular spot or position
- elhelyezto place; to set in a particular spot or position
- találto learn where something is located
- megtalálto learn where something is located
- lelto learn where something is located
- fellelto learn where something is located
- felderítto learn where something is located
- előkerítto learn where something is located
Italian localizzare, localizzare
- localizzareto learn where something is located
- localizzaredesignate the site or place of
Latin inveniō in tabulā
- inveniō in tabulāto learn where something is located
Māori tautohu pūwāhi
- tautohu pūwāhidesignate the site or place of
Polish namierzać, lokalizować
- namierzaćdesignate the site or place of
- lokalizowaćdesignate the site or place of
Portuguese localizar, localizar
- localizarto place; to set in a particular spot or position
- localizarto learn where something is located
- localizardesignate the site or place of
Romanian poziționa
- poziționato place; to set in a particular spot or position
Russian помести́ть, обнаружить
- помести́ть (pomestítʹ)to place; to set in a particular spot or position
- обнаружить (obnaružitʹ)to learn where something is located
Spanish ubicar, colocar
- ubicarto place; to set in a particular spot or position
- colocarto place; to set in a particular spot or position
- localizarto learn where something is located
- ubicardesignate the site or place of
- localizardesignate the site or place of
- asentarse(intransitive) to place oneself; to take up one's residence
Swedish placera
- placerato place; to set in a particular spot or position
Turkish yerleştirmek
- yerleştirmekto place; to set in a particular spot or position
Ukrainian розташо́вувати
- розташо́вувати (roztašóvuvaty)to place; to set in a particular spot or position
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with locate
Anagrams
Cite this entry
locate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/locate
“locate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/locate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “locate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/locate.
Source: locate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.