: extended
especially
: elongated in the direction of a line joining the poles
a prolate spheroid
Examples of prolate in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The disk’s material will most likely fall onto the embryonic moon from the radial (in-out) direction, sculpting the satellite into an egg or football shape—what’s called a prolate spheroid—with the long axis pointing toward the parent body.
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Phil Plait, Scientific American, 20 Sep. 2024
Unlike baseball or basketball, the American football relies on a spiral rotation because of its prolate spheroid shape.
—Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, Popular Science, 6 Feb. 2023
That has a physical difference when gripping an object shaped like a prolate spheroid.
—Andrew Beaton, WSJ, 27 Jan. 2022
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Phil Plait, Scientific American, 20 Sep. 2024
Unlike baseball or basketball, the American football relies on a spiral rotation because of its prolate spheroid shape.
—Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, Popular Science, 6 Feb. 2023
That has a physical difference when gripping an object shaped like a prolate spheroid.
—Andrew Beaton, WSJ, 27 Jan. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Prolate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prolate. Accessed 11 Jul. 2025.
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