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n. 1. a. A horizontal surface raised above the level of the adjacent area, as a stage for public speaking or a landing alongside railroad tracks. b. A vessel, such as a submarine or an aircraft carrier, from which weapons can be deployed. c. An oil platform. 2. A place, means, or opportunity for public expression of opinion: a journal that served as a platform for radical views. 3. A vestibule at the end of a railway car. 4. A formal declaration of the principles on which a group, such as a political party, makes its appeal to the public. 5. a. A thick layer, as of leather or cork, between the inner and outer soles of a shoe, giving added height. b. A shoe having such a construction. 6. Computers The basic technology of a computer system's hardware and software that defines how a computer is operated and determines what other kinds of software can be used. 7. Geology a. A flat elevated portion of ground. b. The ancient, stable, interior layer of a continental craton composed of igneous or metamorphic rocks covered by a thin layer of sedimentary rock. [French plate-forme, diagram, from Old French : plat, flat; see PLATE + forme, form (from Latin fōrma).] |
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