# rotate

Pronunciation: US say "ROH-tayt" /ˈɹoʊ.teɪt/; UK say "roh-TAYT" /ɹəʊˈteɪt/

## Verb

1. To spin, turn, or revolve, typically around a center point or axis.
   - Simple: To spin or turn around and around, the way a wheel or a top does.
   - _The blades of the wind turbine rotate even in a light breeze._
   - _The Earth rotates once every twenty-four hours._
2. To cause something to spin, turn, or revolve around a point or axis.
   - Simple: To make something spin or turn, like turning a key or a doorknob.
   - _Rotate the dial clockwise until you hear a click._
   - _He rotated the telescope slowly until the moon came into view._
3. To advance through a sequence of positions or duties; to take turns.
   - Simple: To take turns doing something, one after another.
   - _Volunteers rotate through the front desk in two-hour shifts._
   - _The on-call duty rotates among the four nurses each month._
4. To advance someone or something through a sequence of positions; to allocate or deploy in turns.
   - Simple: To move people or things through a set of jobs or places, taking turns.
   - _Commanders rotate fresh troops into the region every six months._
   - _The teacher rotated the seating chart every month to mix up the groups._
5. To grow or plant crops in a deliberate order, one after another on the same land.
   - Simple: To plant different crops in the same field in a planned order, year after year.
   - _Many growers rotate wheat with legumes to break pest cycles and restore nitrogen._
   - _The farm rotated potatoes, oats, and clover across its fields for decades._
6. To replace older materials, or to place older stock in front of newer stock so that the older items get used first.
   - Simple: To put older things in front of newer ones so people use the old ones first.
   - _Grocery clerks rotate stock every morning, pulling older packages to the front of the shelf._
   - _The warehouse team rotated its inventory so nothing expired on the back shelves._
7. Of a pilot or aircraft, to raise the nose during the takeoff run just before the wheels leave the ground.
   - Simple: To tilt the nose of a plane up just before it leaves the ground.
   - _The airliner rotated smoothly near the far end of the runway._
   - _Pilots rotate when the aircraft reaches its calculated takeoff speed._

## Adjective

8. Having parts that radiate outward from a center like the spokes of a wheel.
   - Simple: Shaped like a wheel, with parts spreading out from the center.
   - _Potato flowers are rotate, spreading their fused petals out flat like a wheel._
   - _The speedwell's small blue corolla is rotate, opening almost completely flat._

## Origin

Borrowed from Latin rotātus, the perfect passive participle of rotō ("revolve"), which was formed from rota ("wheel") plus a verb-forming suffix.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/rotate (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).