dilate

\di.lat\

/\di.lat\/ verb

The verdict

“dilate” is uncommon French (frequency #57,211 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,211
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dilater.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dilate · dilate · French

dilate · rank #57,211 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,211
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH diffusez

Nearest frequency peer: diffusez (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « dilate »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « dilate » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for dilate
PropertyValue
Headworddilate
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\di.lat\
Letters6
Frequency rank#57,211
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « dilate » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).dilatetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « diffusez » (#57,210), « diluviennes » (#57,212), « dissidentes » (#57,213). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dilate » est au #57,211. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dilate is uncommon French at frequency #57,211 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \di.lat\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for dilate, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is dilate, spelled D-I-L-A-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dilater.
  2. 2
    Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dilater.
  3. 3
    Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de dilater.
  4. 4
    Troisième personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de dilater.
  5. 5
    Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de dilater.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how dilate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. À ses narines surgissent ici et là, à quoi qu’il soit occupé, des croches de parfums surannés, l’odeur des pelures de reinettes ou des zestes de peaux d’orange que sa grand-mère laissait brûler sur le dessus de la cuisinière pour chasser les miasmes microbiens et les esprits malins ou pour embaumer la pièce, et celle, puissante, corsée, qui excite et dila…

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dilate"?
"dilate" is spelled D-I-L-A-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \di.lat\.
What does "dilate" mean?
As a verb, "dilate" means: Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dilater.
How do you pronounce "dilate"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dilate" is \di.lat\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dilate" come from?
"dilate" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dilate", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list