PLATFORM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does platform mean? 

• PLATFORM (noun)
  The noun PLATFORM has 5 senses:

1. a raised horizontal surface

2. a document stating the aims and principles of a political party

3. the combination of a particular computer and a particular operating system

4. any military structure or vehicle bearing weapons

5. a woman's shoe with a very high thick sole

  Familiarity information: PLATFORM used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLATFORM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A raised horizontal surface

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

the speaker mounted the platform

Hypernyms ("platform" is a kind of...):

horizontal surface; level (a flat surface at right angles to a plumb line)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "platform"):

bandstand; outdoor stage; stand (a platform where a (brass) band can play in the open air)

turntable (a rotatable platform with a track; used to turn locomotives and cars)

turntable (a circular horizontal platform that rotates a phonograph record while it is being played)

top (platform surrounding the head of a lower mast)

stairhead (platform at the top of a staircase)

microscope stage; stage (a small platform on a microscope where the specimen is mounted for examination)

stage (a large platform on which people can stand and can be seen by an audience)

scaffold (a platform from which criminals are executed (hanged or beheaded))

runway (a narrow platform extending from the stage into the audience in a theater or nightclub etc.)

ring (a platform usually marked off by ropes in which contestants box or wrestle)

dock; pier; wharf; wharfage (a platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats)

pallet (a portable platform for storing or moving goods that are stacked on it)

monkey bridge (a high narrow platform above a deck or in an engine room or boiler room)

launch area; launch pad; launching pad; launchpad; pad (a platform from which rockets or space craft are launched)

landing stage (platform from which passengers and cargo can be (un)loaded)

landing (an intermediate platform in a staircase)

foretop (a platform at the head of a foremast)

footplate (the platform in the cab of a locomotive on which the engineer stands to operate the controls)

footboard (a narrow platform on which to stand or brace the feet)

fly floor; fly gallery (a narrow raised platform at the side of a stage in a theater; stagehands can work the ropes controlling equipment in the flies)

dock; loading dock (a platform where trucks or trains can be loaded or unloaded)

deck (any of various platforms built into a vessel)

ambo; dais; podium; pulpit; rostrum; soapbox; stump (a platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it)

crow's nest (platform for a lookout at or near the top of a mast)

catwalk (narrow platform extending out into an auditorium)

auction block; block (a platform from which an auctioneer sells)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A document stating the aims and principles of a political party

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

platform; political platform; political program; program

Context example:

they won the election even though they offered no positive program

Hypernyms ("platform" is a kind of...):

document; papers; written document (writing that provides information (especially information of an official nature))

Meronyms (parts of "platform"):

plank (an endorsed policy in the platform of a political party)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The combination of a particular computer and a particular operating system

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("platform" is a kind of...):

ADP system; ADPS; automatic data processing system; computer system; computing system (a system of one or more computers and associated software with common storage)

Meronyms (parts of "platform"):

computer; computing device; computing machine; data processor; electronic computer; information processing system (a machine for performing calculations automatically)

operating system; OS ((computer science) software that controls the execution of computer programs and may provide various services)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Any military structure or vehicle bearing weapons

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

platform; weapons platform

Hypernyms ("platform" is a kind of...):

construction; structure (a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "platform"):

gun enclosure; gun turret; turret (a self-contained weapons platform housing guns and capable of rotation)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A woman's shoe with a very high thick sole

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

chopine; platform

Hypernyms ("platform" is a kind of...):

shoe (footwear shaped to fit the foot (below the ankle) with a flexible upper of leather or plastic and a sole and heel of heavier material)

 Context examples 

That prompted them to create a first-of-its-kind platform mimicking hallmarks of early porcine CAVD in a lab dish.

(New Hope for Stopping An Understudied Heart Disease in Its Tracks, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The cholesterol gathers into "rafts," which were thought to serve as platforms from which other signaling molecules might operate.

(Researchers Zero-In on Cholesterol's Role in Cells, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The ship will also be used in the reconstruction of Commandant Ferraz Antarctic Station, in addition to serving as a platform for the conduction of research studies.

(Brazil ship off to Antarctica for research support, Agência Brasil)

However, low- and middle-income countries cannot afford to routinely use modern sequencing platforms to carry out this molecular classification.

(New method to classify brain tumour in children, SciDev.Net)

It was with a heavy heart that we sought the station and just caught the train, which was steaming in as we reached the platform.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

At last, by a sudden impulse, just as our train was crawling out of a suburban station, he sprang on to the platform and pulled me out after him.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Old Scholey ran in at breakfast-time, to say she had slipped her moorings and was coming out, I jumped up, and made but two steps to the platform.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Research indicates metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) could present a viable platform for delivering a potent anti-cancer agent, known as siRNA, to cells.

(Nanoparticles used to transport anti-cancer agent to cells, University of Cambridge)

The severed trunk rolled to the very edge of our platform, and for one terrible second we all thought it was over.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The scientists' unique biosensing platform consists of an array of ultrathin graphene layers and gold nanostructures.

(Better biosensor technology created for stem cells, National Science Foundation)