Link Centre Dictionary

rotate

ro·tate

UK/ɹəʊˈteɪt/ US/ɹəˈteɪt/ fairly common

verb

1.

turn on or around an axis or a center

  • “The Earth revolves around the Sun”
  • “The lamb roast rotates on a spit over the fire”
2.

exchange on a regular basis

  • “We rotate the lead soprano every night”
3.

cause to turn on an axis or center

  • “Rotate the handle”
Synonyms
4.

perform a job or duty on a rotating basis

  • “Interns have to rotate for a few months”
5.

turn outward

  • “These birds can splay out their toes”
  • “ballet dancers can rotate their legs out by 90 degrees”
6.

plant or grow in a fixed cyclic order of succession

  • “We rotate the crops so as to maximize the use of the soil”

Origin

Borrowed from Latin rotātus, perfect passive participle of rotō (“revolve”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from rota (“wheel”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Related words

Broader terms

See also

Related verbs

Causes

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.