prone

comparative proner · comparative more prone · superlative pronest · superlative most prone

1. Lying face-down.

   prone position

   1 more example

   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.

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms: prostrate, pronated, neveling, nuel · Antonyms: supine

2. 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.

   Synonyms: pronated

3. Having a downward inclination or slope.
4. governmentShooting from a position while lying down.
5. figurativelyPredisposed, liable, inclined, given (to something) (most often, specifically to being befallen by an unsought bad outcome, rather than to undertaking a willful behavior or to having a happy accident).

   prone to failure

   1 more example

   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: […]

   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

present singular third person prones · participle present proning · participle past proned · past proned

1. medicineTo place in a prone position, to place face down.

1. alternativeAlternative form of Prome (“the city of Pyay”).