configure / configurate (2025)

Hi,

Can somebody tell me what the difference between "configure" and "configurate" is?

Can somebody give me some examples?

Thank you very much.

"Configurate" is an erroneous back-formation from "configuration"; it is not a real word.

That said, "orientate," a similarly erroneous back-formation from "orientation," is on its way toward becoming established as a real word, alongside "orient." "Configurate" has not reached the same point.

We've done "orientate(d)" to death elsewhere, Glen.

But I agree about "configurate" - to the best of my knowledge, I've never encountered such a word.

Where did you come across it, yang?

........

EDIT: I've just found "configurate" in the (big) OED. The OED provides four definitions, three labelled obsolete, and the fourth, with citations from 1566 to 1837, labelled Now rare.

I forgive myself for not having encountered it before, and I'd still be fascinated to know where yang found it.

I looked up English-Chinese dictionary, I found this word.
And there is an example sentence in that dictionary. So it confused me.

"The scheme uses the configuration software MCGS to configurate the upper monitoring interface and uses GSM wireless module to transmit the alarming data;"

"Configure" would work just fine in that example, yang. Although I can guess at what "alarming data" might be, the meaning that comes to mind first is "scary data". See the first definition of "alarm" in the WRF dictionary:

1. to fill with apprehension, anxiety, or fear

I'd find another dictionary.

Loob said:

EDIT: I've just found "configurate" in the (big) OED. The OED provides four definitions, three labelled obsolete, and the fourth, with citations from 1566 to 1837, labelled Now rare.

I forgive myself for not having encountered it before, and I'd still be fascinated to know where yang found it.

Click to expand...

I had to pull my OED out just to look that up after you mentioned it. I wonder what other weird words yang's dictionary includes....

<< Off-topic comment about orientate deleted by moderator. See post #3. >>

"configurate" is also in Merriam-Webster's: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/configurate and is defined as "to give or assign a form to : fashion, shape, form".

I came across it because I'm translating a text about commercial lease vehicles (from Dutch into English) and realised that the term "configurator" is used quite a lot in the automotive industry to denote a system for configuring/designing/ … configurating (???) your new car.

See e.g.: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=v...drc...0...1c.1.58.serp..3.13.1363.t-bDl0lYdfc (Google search for: vehicle car configurator)

I see that "configurator" is a standard term in this context, just wondering what the verb would be? As in:

the employee can use the car configurator to … put together/design/configure ("configurate"?) his own vehicle.Michael

TheoFandtoa said:

Just heard "configurated" used by a TSA official on CNN. That's a new one to me as well.

Click to expand...

The language of "bureaucratese," while it resembles English at a surface level, has its own rules. They vary from one organization to another. The way officials speak in their official capacity is not a good guide to what normal people should say in normal situations. (Police officers speaking to reporters are excellent examples of this. So are lawyers.) Most of the people who speak this way at work are able to use normal English when they're not at work. I wish they would use this ability on the job.

I actually just heard this word for the first time today!! It's in the merriam-webster dictonary.

Definition of CONFIGURATE