rotate
verb /rəʊˈteɪt/
/ˈrəʊteɪt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they rotate | /rəʊˈteɪt/ /ˈrəʊteɪt/ |
| he / she / it rotates | /rəʊˈteɪts/ /ˈrəʊteɪts/ |
| past simple rotated | /rəʊˈteɪtɪd/ /ˈrəʊteɪtɪd/ |
| past participle rotated | /rəʊˈteɪtɪd/ /ˈrəʊteɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form rotating | /rəʊˈteɪtɪŋ/ /ˈrəʊteɪtɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive, transitive] to move or turn around a central fixed point; to make something do this
- Stay well away from the helicopter when its blades start to rotate.
- rotate about/around something winds rotating around the eye of a hurricane
- rotate something Rotate the wheel through 180 degrees.
Extra Examples- Make sure that the propellor can rotate freely.
- Once the starter motor is rotating, you should be able to get the car going.
- The blades of the fan rotated rapidly above her.
- The earth takes 24 hours to rotate on its axis.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- quickly
- rapidly
- gently
- …
- allow something to
- around
- on
- through
- …
- [intransitive, transitive] if a job rotates, or if people rotate a job, they regularly change the job or regularly change who does the job
- + adv./prep. The EU presidency rotates among the members.
- When I joined the company, I rotated around the different sections.
- rotate something We rotate the night shift so no one has to do it all the time.
Word Originlate 17th cent.: from Latin rotat- ‘turned in a circle’, from the verb rotare, from rota ‘wheel’.