What does "plate" mean?
A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.
Plate
/pleɪt/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.
- Grammar: plate is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: aegis, aluminize, alveolar ridge, anodized aluminum.
- Useful contrasts: block, bowl, bowls.
- Usage evidence: The waiter brought a new plate.
How to use "plate"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "plate" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "plate" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "plate" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "plate" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "plate" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "aegis" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "plate", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.
"I filled my plate from the bountiful table."
- 2 Precious metal, especially silver. uncountable, usually
"At every meal—and I have heard the meals at Petleighcote were neither abundant nor succulent—enough plate stood upon the table to pay for the feeding of the poor of the whole county for a month"
- 3 Silver or gold, in the form of a coin, or less often silver or gold utensils or dishes. obsolete
"[…] realms and islands were As plates dropp’d from his pocket."
- 4 a dental appliance that artificially replaces missing teeth wordnet
- 5 Such dishes collectively. uncountable
"A valuable collection of silver plate was donated to the museum."
Show 50 more definitions
- 6 A roundel of silver or argent.
- 7 (baseball) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands; it must be touched by a base runner in order to score wordnet
- 8 The contents of such a dish.
"I ate a plate of beans."
- 9 dish on which food is served or from which food is eaten wordnet
- 10 A course at a meal.
"The meat plate was particularly tasty."
- 11 a metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners) wordnet
- 12 An agenda of tasks, problems, or responsibilities figuratively
"With revenues down and transfer payments up, the legislature has a full plate."
- 13 a sheet of metal or wood or glass or plastic wordnet
- 14 A flat object of uniform thickness.
"The most important and most expensive part of any solar cell is a silicon plate."
- 15 a shallow receptacle for collection in church wordnet
- 16 Vehicle license plates, registration plates. Australia, especially, metonymically, plural, plural-only
"He stole a car and changed the plates as soon as he could."
- 17 structural member consisting of a horizontal beam that provides bearing and anchorage wordnet
- 18 A taxi permit, especially of a metal disc.
- 19 a full-page illustration (usually on slick paper) wordnet
- 20 Plate armor. historical
"He was confronted by two knights in full plate."
- 21 a flat sheet of metal or glass on which a photographic image can be recorded wordnet
- 22 A layer of a material on the surface of something, usually qualified by the type of the material; plating
"The bullets just bounced off the steel plate on its hull."
- 23 the positively charged electrode in a vacuum tube wordnet
- 24 A material covered with such a layer.
"If you're not careful, someone will sell you silverware that's really only silver plate."
- 25 any flat platelike body structure or part wordnet
- 26 An ornamental or food service item coated with silver or gold or otherwise decorated. dated
"The tea was served in the plate."
- 27 a main course served on a plate wordnet
- 28 A weighted disk, usually of metal, with a hole in the center for use with a barbell, dumbbell, or exercise machine.
- 29 the thin under portion of the forequarter wordnet
- 30 An engraved surface used to transfer an image to paper.
"We finished making the plates this morning."
- 31 a rigid layer of the Earth's crust that is believed to drift slowly wordnet
- 32 An image or copy.
- 33 the quantity contained in a plate wordnet
- 34 An illustration in a book, either black and white, or colour, usually on a page of paper of different quality from the text pages.
- 35 A shaped and fitted surface, usually ceramic or metal that fits into the mouth and in which teeth are implanted; a dental plate.
- 36 A horizontal framing member at the top or bottom of a group of vertical studs.
- 37 A person's foot. Cockney, slang
"Sit down and give your plates a rest."
- 38 Home plate.
"There was a close play at the plate."
- 39 A tectonic plate.
"Our planet's crust is split into eight major plates and many minor plates."
- 40 Any of various larger scales found in some reptiles.
- 41 A flat electrode such as can be found in an accumulator battery, or in an electrolysis tank.
- 42 The anode of a vacuum tube.
"Regulating the oscillator plate voltage greatly improves the keying."
- 43 A prize given to the winner in a contest.
- 44 Any flat piece of material such as coated glass or plastic.
- 45 A metallic card, used to imprint tickets with an airline's logo, name, and numeric code. dated
- 46 The ability of a travel agent to issue tickets on behalf of a particular airline. broadly
- 47 A VIN plate, particularly with regard to the car's year of manufacture. Australia
- 48 One of the thin parts of the brisket of an animal.
- 49 A very light steel horseshoe for racehorses.
- 50 Skins for fur linings of garments, sewn together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted.
- 51 The fine nap (as of beaver, musquash, etc.) on a hat whose body is made from inferior material.
- 52 A record, usually vinyl.
- 53 trauma plate.
"The SAPI plate in his vest protected him from the bullet's impact."
- 54 Any of the potential romantic or sexual partners with whom a person keeps in touch as part of plate spinning. slang
"More plates means more dates!"
- 55 A Lego piece that is thin, 1/3 the height of a brick, and has studs on top.
Verb
- 1 To cover the surface material of an object with a thin coat of another material, usually a metal.
"This ring is plated with a thin layer of gold."
- 2 coat with a layer of metal wordnet
- 3 To place the various elements of a meal on the diner's plate prior to serving.
"After preparation, the chef will plate the dish."
- 4 To score a run.
"The single plated the runner from second base."
- 5 To arm or defend with metal plates. transitive
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 To beat into thin plates. transitive
- 7 To specify which airline a ticket will be issued on behalf of.
"Tickets are normally plated on an itinerary's first international airline."
- 8 to categorise stamps based on their position on the original sheet, in order to reconstruct an entire sheet.
- 9 To identify the printing plate used.
Proper Noun
- 1 The River Plate.
"[…]; but the tributary waters of the Plate issuing from the eastern and western plateaus, flow towards each other, unite in the heart of the continent, and continue over the central plain to the Atlantic."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"The waiter brought a new plate."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "plate"?
Common synonyms include: aegis, aluminize, alveolar ridge, anodized aluminum, antepast, armor.
How do you use "plate" in a sentence?
The waiter brought a new plate.
How do you pronounce "plate"?
Pronounced /pleɪt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English plate, from Old French plate, from Medieval Latin plata, from Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat, wide”). Compare Spanish plato. (foot): Cockney rhyming slang, from "plates of meat" for "feet".
Etymology 2
From Middle English platen, from Old English platian and Old French plater, both ultimately from Latin plata (see above).
Etymology 3
From Middle English, partly from Anglo-Norman plate (“plate, bullion”) and partly from Latin plata (“silver”), from Vulgar Latin *platta (“metal plate”), from feminine of Latin *plattus (“flat”).
Etymology 4
From Spanish plata (“silver”).
Etymology 5
Ellipsis of River Plate.