elongate

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb make long or longer by pulling and stretching
  2. adjective (of a leaf shape) long and narrow
  3. adjective having notably more length than width; being long and slender

Etymology

From Late Middle English elongat, elongate (“kept away; different or remote in nature”, adjective), borrowed from Late Latin ēlongātus (“having been stretched out, elongated; prolonged, protracted; having been kept aloof, removed”) + Middle English -at (suffix forming participles). Ēlongātus is the perfect passive participle of ēlongō (“to prolong, protract; to keep aloof, remove; to depart, withdraw”), from Latin ē- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + longus (“extended, long, prolonged; far”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”, adjective)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Doublet of eloign. Cognates * French éloigner

In classic literature

Synonyms

stretch

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