ro ‧ tate /rəʊˈteɪt $ ˈroʊteɪt/ BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1600-1700 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: past participle of rotare , from rota 'wheel' ]
1 . [intransitive and transitive] to turn with a circular movement around a central point, or to make something do this SYN revolve ⇨ spin :
The Earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours.
Rotate the pan halfway through the baking time.
2 . [intransitive and transitive] if a job rotates, or if people rotate jobs, they each do a particular job for a particular period of time:
The chairmanship of the committee rotates annually.
Employers may rotate duties to give staff wider experience.
3 . [intransitive and transitive] to change the places of things or people, or to change places, especially in a circular direction:
Rotating the tyres every few months helps them last longer.
4 . [transitive] technical to regularly change the crops grown on a piece of land, in order to preserve the quality of the soil ⇨ crop rotation
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THESAURUS
▪ turn to move around a central or fixed point:
The wheels of the train began to turn.
▪ go around ( also go round British English ) to turn around a central point. Go around is a little more informal than turn and is very common in everyday English:
When the fan goes around, the warm air is pushed back downwards.
▪ revolve/rotate to turn around and around a central point. Rotate and revolve are more formal than turn and sound more technical:
The Earth rotates on its axis once every twenty-four hours.
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The stage revolves at various points during the performance.
▪ spin to turn around many times very quickly:
The ice skater began to spin faster and faster.
▪ whirl /wɜːl $ wɜːrl/ to spin around extremely quickly, often in a powerful or uncontrolled way:
The blades of the helicopter whirled overhead.
▪ twirl (around) to spin around quickly, especially as part of a dance or performance:
The couples were twirling around on the dance floor.
▪ swirl (around) to move around quickly in a circular movement, especially when the movement goes outwards or upwards from the center:
Her white skirt swirled around her legs as she danced.
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The leaves began to swirl around.
▪ spiral to move in a continuous curve that gets nearer to or further from its central point as it goes around:
The smoke spiralled toward the ceiling.