prostration Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an abrupt failure of function or complete physical exhaustion
    collapse.
    • the commander's prostration demoralized his men
  2. noun abject submission; the emotional equivalent of prostrating your body
  3. noun the act of assuming a prostrate position

WordNet

Pros*tra"tion noun
Etymology
L. prostratio: cf. F. prostration.
Definitions
  1. The act of prostrating, throwing down, or laying fiat; as, the prostration of the body.
  2. The act of falling down, or of bowing in humility or adoration; primarily, the act of falling on the face, but usually applied to kneeling or bowing in reverence and worship.
    A greater prostration of reason than of body. Shak.
  3. The condition of being prostrate; great depression; lowness; dejection; as, a postration of spirits. "A sudden prostration of strength." Arbuthnot.
  4. (Med.) A latent, not an exhausted, state of the vital energies; great oppression of natural strength and vigor. ✍ Prostration, in its medical use, is analogous to the state of a spring lying under such a weight that it is incapable of action; while exhaustion is analogous to the state of a spring deprived of its elastic powers. The word, however, is often used to denote any great depression of the vital powers.

Webster 1913