Quranic root
وضع
w · ḍ · ʿ
The root centers on lowering or putting something down into a position.
From this core, the lexicon develops meanings of placing and establishing, bringing forth, presenting something for inspection, and figurative lowering; derived forms also extend to humility, rapid movement, and related specialized uses.
- Maqāyīs · row 5137
- Mufradāt · row 1587
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 7
- Quran senses
- 26
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
وَضَعَ
waḍaʿa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 21 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To put, lay, set, or establish something in a place or position.
Covers physical placement and setting something aside, as well as establishing the House, the earth, or the balance; in such creation or establishment contexts, the wording can convey bringing something into being.
- Lane · entry 30558
- Mufradāt · row 1587
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:96word 4
“set up”
Quran 55:10word 2
“He laid it”
To bring forth or give birth.
Used in the childbirth construction for delivering a child.
- Lane · entry 30558
- Mufradāt · row 1587
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:36word 2
“she delivered her”
To bring a record or written account forward for presentation, making its contents visible for inspection.
The Quranic use of placing the record refers to the presentation of people's recorded deeds, not merely to putting an object down.
- Mufradāt · row 1587
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:49word 1
“And (will) be placed”
To lower or remove a burden and thereby relieve someone of it.
Used for the lowering or removal of burdens; this is a resultative use distinct from simply placing an object in a location.
- Lane · entry 30558
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:157word 24
“and he relieves”
Quran 94:2word 1
“And We removed”
أَوْضَعَ
ʾawḍaʿa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To hasten or move rapidly, especially to urge a mount onward.
The Quranic construction describes rapid movement through or among people; the derived verb can also be used of making an animal move quickly.
- Lane · entry 30560
- Mufradāt · row 1587
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:47word 8
“and would have been active”
مَوْضِعٌ
mawḍiʿun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 3 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A place or position; figuratively, the proper context, application, or meaning of words.
The Quranic plural مَوَاضِع occurs in the expression concerning words being turned away from their proper places or contexts.
- Lane · entry 30566
- Mufradāt · row 1587
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:46word 7
“their places”
Quran 5:41word 31
“their context”
مَوْضُوعٌ
mawḍūʿun
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Placed or set in position.
The Quranic occurrence is the feminine passive participle modifying cups that have been set out or placed.
- Mufradāt · row 1587
Selected Quran examples
Quran 88:14word 2
“put in place”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 3:36وَضَعَتْهَاshe delivered her
- 3:36وَضَعْتُهَآ[I] (have) delivered [her]
- 3:36وَضَعَتْshe delivered
- 3:96وُضِعَset up
- 4:46مَّوَاضِعِهِۦtheir places
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 24 Classical meanings
وَضَعَ لَهُ
To appoint or provide a sign, token, or indication for someone.
Used with لَهُ for assigning a sign or token to or for a person.
- Lane · entry 30558
وَضَعَ عَلَيْهِ
To impose a fine, tax, or similar charge upon someone.
The object of the imposition is marked with عَلَيْهِ.
- Lane · entry 30558
وَضَعَ
To remit a tax or similar charge, declining to exact it.
This is the opposite result from imposing a charge and is a distinct conventional use.
- Lane · entry 30558
وَضَعُوا الحَرْبَ
To relinquish war and make peace.
An idiomatic, explicitly tropical expression in which war is treated as something laid down; it contrasts with raising war.
- Lane · entry 30558
وَضَعَ مِنْهُ
To lower someone's grade, rank, condition, or estimation.
Used with مِنْهُ or عَنْهُ for lowering status or standing.
- Lane · entry 30558
وُضِعَ فِي تِجَارَتِهِ
To suffer loss or diminution in trade and fail to gain.
The construction refers specifically to loss in commercial activity.
- Lane · entry 30558
وَضَعَ
To forge a word or a piece of poetry.
It may involve fabricating speech or poetry in someone's name.
- Lane · entry 30558
وَضَعَ لَفْظًا لِشَيْءٍ
To assign or appropriate a word or phrase to denote a thing.
A terminological use concerning the establishment of a designation for an object or concept.
- Lane · entry 30558
وَضَعْتُ عَلَيْهِ الشَّيْءَ
To make or set a thing according to someone's or something's measure.
An attributed or appositional construction concerning conformity to a specified measure.
- Lane · entry 30558
تَوَاضَعَ
To be or become lowly, humble, submissive, or abased; to humble oneself.
This is the reciprocal Form VI development of lowering applied to one's own status or demeanor.
- Lane · entry 30561
تَوَاضَعَا
For two parties to lay bets, wagers, or stakes against one another.
A mutual construction equivalent to wagering with each other.
- Lane · entry 30561
تَوَاضَعَتِ الأَرْضُ
For land to lie lower than the land next to it.
An explicitly tropical use describing relative elevation of terrain.
- Lane · entry 30561
وَضْعٌ
Collocation, posture, or positional arrangement, including a position among the philosophical categories.
A technical nominal use referring to the way things are positioned or combined.
- Lane · entry 30563
وَضْعٌ
The constitution, conformation, make, mode, or manner of a thing.
Describes how something is constituted or arranged, including its general manner or mode.
- Lane · entry 30563
ضِعَةٌ
Bringing forth or giving birth, as a verbal noun associated with وَضَعَتْ.
A nominal form referring to the act of delivery.
- Lane · entry 30564
وَضِيعٌ
Low, ignoble, vile, mean, or of little rank or estimation.
An adjectival use describing low social or evaluative standing.
- Lane · entry 30565
مَوْضِعُ سِرِّي
A depository or trusted repository for a secret.
In the expression for a person who is the place or repository of another's secret.
- Lane · entry 30566
مَوْضِعُهُ الرَّفْعُ
The grammatical position in which a word has the nominative function or case.
A technical grammatical expression equivalent to saying that its position is one of رفع.
- Lane · entry 30566
مَوْضِعٌ
A ground or basis for something, or the proper object of an action.
Includes a ground for belief, trust, or accusation and a person or thing properly deserving an action such as honoring.
- Lane · entry 30566
مَوْضُوعٌ
A particular easy or lowered pace of a beast.
A specialized movement term contrasted with a raised or elevated gait.
- Lane · entry 30567
مَوْضُوعٌ
In logic, the subject as opposed to the predicate, and a substance as opposed to an accident.
A technical logical use, explicitly marked as tropical and contrasted with مَحْمُولٌ.
- Lane · entry 30567
مَوْضُوعٌ
The subject or topic of a book or similar work.
An explicitly tropical extension from what is set out as the topic under discussion.
- Lane · entry 30567
مُوَاضَعَةٌ
A convention or established terminology in lexicology.
Used as a technical term equivalent to اصطلاح.
- Lane · entry 30568
مُتَوَاضِعَةٌ
Low-lying, as of a hill.
An explicitly assumed tropical description in the cited phrase for a low hill.
- Lane · entry 30569
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The public nominal headwords are normalized singular citation forms; the Quran includes the plural مَوَاضِع and the feminine passive participle مَوْضُوعَة.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
lane-unit:wDE:30560:g1:sub2 contains the expression مِنْ أَيْنَ أَوْضَعَ الرَّاكِبُ and an equivalence to مِنْ أَيْنَ أَوْضَحَ, but the supplied cross-reference wording does not securely establish its precise lexical meaning.