COLLIMATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does collimate mean? 

• COLLIMATE (verb)
  The verb COLLIMATE has 2 senses:

1. make or place parallel to something

2. adjust the line of sight of (an optical instrument)

  Familiarity information: COLLIMATE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COLLIMATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they collimate    ... he / she / it collimates   
Past simple: collimated   
Past participle: collimated   
-ing form: collimating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make or place parallel to something

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

collimate; parallel

Context example:

They paralleled the ditch to the highway

Hypernyms (to "collimate" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Adjust the line of sight of (an optical instrument)

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "collimate" is one way to...):

adjust; align; aline; line up (place in a line or arrange so as to be parallel or straight)

Domain category:

optics (the branch of physics that studies the physical properties of light)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

collimation (the accurate adjustment of the line of sight of a telescope)

collimator (a small telescope attached to a large telescope to use in setting the line of the larger one)