Meanings
quadrate1
comparative more quadrate · superlative most quadrate · alternative obsolete quadrat
- Having four equal sides, the opposite sides parallel, and four right angles; square.
[…]figures some rounde, some triangle, some quadrate,[…]
1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, “The examination of William Liuing, and of hys wyfe, before Darbyshere Chauncellor of London”, in Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC, book V, page 1673 [1754], column 2 - Produced by multiplying a number by itself; square.
The number of Ten hath been as highly extolled, as containing even, odd, long, plain, quadrate and cubical numbers.
1646-72, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, book 4, ch. 12 - archaicSquare; even; balanced; equal; exact.
The Moraliſt tells us that a quadrat ſolid wiſe man, ſhould[…]be ſtill the same,[…]
2026 November 7 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “To Sir Ed. Sa. Knight”, in [Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ.], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, section VI, page 306 - archaicSquared; suited; correspondent.
a generical description quadrate to both
1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus, Or, The Anatomy of Consumptions
quadrate2
plural quadrates · alternative obsolete quadrat
- geometryA plane surface with four equal sides and four right angles; a square; hence, figuratively, anything having the outline of a square.
At which command, the powers militant That stood for heav'n, in mighty quadrate joyn'd.
1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 61-62 - astrologyAn aspect of the heavenly bodies in which they are distant from each other 90°, or the quarter of a circle; quartile.
Synonyms: square
- anatomyThe quadrate bone.
quadrate3
present singular third person quadrates · participle present quadrating · participle past quadrated · past quadrated · alternative obsolete quadrat
- archaictransitiveTo train (a gun) for horizontal firing.
- archaictransitiveTo square; to agree; to suit; to correspond (with).
not quadrating with American ideas of right, justice and reason
2 more examples
The objections of these speculatists, if its forces do not quadrate with their theories, are as valid against such an old and beneficent government as against the most violent tyranny or the greenest usurpation.
1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLCIn short I am resolved, from this instance, never to give way to the weakness of human nature more, nor to think anything virtue which doth not exactly quadrate with the unerring rule of right.
1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn aspect of the heavenly bodies in which they are distant from each other 90°, or the quarter of a circle; quartile.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivehaving four sides and four angles
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
quadrate · adjective
- Latinquadrātus“square”
- Middle Englishquadrat
- Englishquadrate
From Middle English quadrat, quadrate, from Latin quadrātus (“square”), past participle of quadrō (“to make four-cornered, square, put in order, intransitive be square”), from quadra (“a square”), later quadrus (“square”), from quattuor (“four”).
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →quadrate · noun
- Latinquadrātum
- Middle Englishquadrat
- Englishquadrate
From Middle English quadrat, quadrate, from Latin quadrātum. Doublet of quadrat; compare also quadrant (“square or quadrangle”).
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →quadrate · verb
- Latinquadrātus
- Englishquadrate
From Latin quadrātus, past participle of quadrō.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with quadrate
Anagrams
Cite this entry
quadrate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quadrate
“quadrate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quadrate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “quadrate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quadrate.
Source: quadrate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.