Dictionary

locate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /loʊˈkeɪt/ (US)
• /lə(ʊ)ˈkeɪt/ (UK)
• /lɵˈkeʈ/ (South-Asia)
• /ˈloʊˌkeɪt/ (US)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin locātus, perfect passive participle of locō (“to place”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from locus (“place”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Cognate with French louer; see also local and lieu.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To place; to set in a particular spot or position.
   • The captives and emigrants whom he brought with him were located in the trans-Tiberine quarter. 1881, Brooke Foss Westcott, The New Testament in the Original Greek:
   • The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
2. (transitive) To find out where something is located.
   • I really can't locate the sever files.
   • In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter. Their densities range from that of styrofoam to iron. 2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 184:
   • The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He[…]played a lone hand,[…]. Most lone wolves had a moll at any rate—women were their ruin—but if the Bat had a moll, not even the grapevine telegraph could locate her. 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:
3. (transitive) To designate the site or place of; to define the limits of (Note: the designation may be purely descriptive: it need not be prescriptive.)
   • The council must locate the new hospital.
   • 1862-1892, Herbert Spencer, System of Synthetic Philosophy That part of the body in which the sense of touch is located.
   • to locate (the land granted by) a land warrant
   • to locate a mining claim
4. (colloquial, intransitive) To place oneself; to take up one's residence; to settle.

Forms

Deriveds

electrolocate · prelocated · prelocate · locateable · echolocate · co-locate · bilocate · locatee · locater · geolocate · interlocate · electrolocating · immunolocate · locatable · dislocate · unlocated · translocate · phonolocate · delocate · mislocate · relocate

Relateds

locality · collocate · locus · delocate · localization · local · location · localize · locator · allocate · couch · allocation

Synonyms

site

Translations (48)

la inveniō in tabulā (to learn where something is located) · pt localizar (designate the site or place of) · hu helyez (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · tr yerleştirmek (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · az yerləşdirmək (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · hu előkerít (to learn where something is located) · es localizar (designate the site or place of) · es colocar (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · es ubicar (designate the site or place of) · es ubicar (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · de orten (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · ru обнаружить (to learn where something is located) · eo lokigi (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · hu talál (to learn where something is located) · ca localizar (to learn where something is located) · io lok-izar ((intransitive) to place oneself; to take up one's residence) · sv placera (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · pt localizar (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · ru помести́ть (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · hu felderít (to learn where something is located) · fi sijoittaa (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · sh smjestiti (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · pl lokalizować (designate the site or place of) · da lokalisere (designate the site or place of) · es localizar (to learn where something is located) · hu elhelyez (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · hu megtalál (to learn where something is located) · da lokalisere (to learn where something is located) · mi tautohu pūwāhi (designate the site or place of) · it localizzare (to learn where something is located) · fr se poser ((intransitive) to place oneself; to take up one's residence) · pl namierzać (designate the site or place of) · ml സ്ഥാപിക്കുക (to learn where something is located) · egy gm-m (to learn where something is located) · uk розташо́вувати (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · el εντοπίζω (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · it localizzare (designate the site or place of) · fr localiser (designate the site or place of) · es asentarse ((intransitive) to place oneself; to take up one's residence) · pt localizar (to learn where something is located) · sh smestiti (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · ro poziționa (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · ml സ്ഥാപിക്കുക (to place; to set in a particular spot or position) · txb kälp- (to learn where something is located) · hu fellel (to learn where something is located) · fi sijoittaa (designate the site or place of) · hu lel (to learn where something is located) · eo lokiĝi ((intransitive) to place oneself; to take up one's residence)