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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

erect.

Upright; vertical or reaching broadly upwards.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ɪˈɹɛkt/
  1. Upright; vertical or reaching broadly upwards.

  2. Rigid, firm; standing out perpendicularly, especially as the result of stimulation.

    The penis should be fully erect before commencing copulation.
    erect nipples
  3. Having an erect penis or clitoris.

    OK, baby, I'm erect now. Let's get it on!
  4. Bold; confident; free from depression; undismayed.

    obsolete
  5. Directed upward; raised; uplifted.

    obsolete
  6. Watchful; alert.

  7. Elevated, as the tips of wings, heads of serpents, etc.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English erect, a borrowing from Latin ērectus (“upright”), past participle of ērigō (“raise, set up”), from ē- (“out”) + regō (“to direct, keep straight, guide”).

verb/ɪˈɹɛkt/
  1. To put up by the fitting together of materials or parts.

    transitive
    to erect a house or a fort
  2. To cause to stand up or out.

    transitive
  3. To raise and place in an upright or perpendicular position; to set upright; to raise.

    to erect a pole, a flagstaff, a monument, etc.
  4. To raise and place in an upright or perpendicular position; to set upright; to raise. To spin up and align to vertical.

    intransitive
    As soon as electrical power was restored, the attitude indicators' gyros would have begun to erect.
  5. To lift up; to elevate; to exalt; to magnify.

    transitive
  6. To animate; to encourage; to cheer.

    transitive
  7. To cast or draw up (a figure of the heavens, horoscope etc.).

    transitive
  8. To enter a state of physiological erection.

    intransitive
  9. To set up as an assertion or consequence from premises, etc.

    transitive
  10. To set up or establish; to found; to form; to institute.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English erecten, from the adjective (see above).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.