prostrate.

1. Stretched out flat on the ground, usually face downward or in a posture of submission.

2. Completely overcome, weakened, or exhausted by illness, grief, or another force.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• lie prostrate
• fall prostrate
• prostrate on the floor
• prostrate with grief
• prostrate from illness
• left prostrate

On the page

She lay prostrate beside the fallen mast, one hand still closed around the rope.

The news left him prostrate with grief.

Usage notes

As an adjective, it describes posture; the verb prostrate means to make someone powerless or force them down. Sense 2: This figurative sense describes a weakened state, not necessarily a person lying down.