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oblate

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

6 characters

Language

English

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "oblate", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "oblate" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "oblate" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

oblate is aEnglishnoun. It means: A person dedicated to a life of religion or monasticism, especially a member of an order without religious vows or a lay member of a religious community. Pronounced /ˈɒbleɪt/.

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Key facts for oblate
PropertyValue
Headwordoblate
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɒbleɪt/
Letters6
Frequency rank#75,253
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of oblate in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for oblate is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɒbleɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #75,253 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for oblate in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French oblat and its source, Ecclesiastical Latin oblātus (“person dedicated to religious life”), nominalization of oblātus, perfect passive participle of offerō (“to offer”); see -ate (noun-forming suffix). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is oblate, spelled O-B-L-A-T-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person dedicated to a life of religion or monasticism, especially a member of an order without religious vows or a lay member of a religious community.
  2. 2
    A child given up by its parents into the keeping or dedication of a religious order or house.

Etymology

From French oblat and its source, Ecclesiastical Latin oblātus (“person dedicated to religious life”), nominalization of oblātus, perfect passive participle of offerō (“to offer”); see -ate (noun-forming suffix).

Frequency rank: #75,253 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "oblate"?
"oblate" is spelled O-B-L-A-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɒbleɪt/.
What does "oblate" mean?
As a noun, "oblate" means: A person dedicated to a life of religion or monasticism, especially a member of an order without religious vows or a lay member of a religious community.
How do you pronounce "oblate"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "oblate" is /ˈɒbleɪt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "oblate"?
From French oblat and its source, Ecclesiastical Latin oblātus (“person dedicated to religious life”), nominalization of oblātus, perfect passive participle of offerō (“to offer”); see -ate (noun-forming suffix). See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.