Prone vs. Recumbent

Lying face downward.

Example: ‘prone position’;

Having a downward inclination or slope.

Shooting from a lying down position.

(figuratively) Predisposed, liable, inclined.

Example: ‘prone to failure’;

Bending forward; inclined; not erect.

Example: ‘Towards him they bendWith awful reverence prone.’;

Prostrate; flat; esp., lying with the face down; - opposed to supine.

Example: ‘Which, as the wind,Blew where it listed, laying all things prone.’;

Headlong; running downward or headlong.

Sloping, with reference to a line or surface; declivous; inclined; not level.

Example: ‘Since the floods demand,For their descent, a prone and sinking land.’;

Inclined; propense; disposed; - applied to the mind or affections, usually in an ill sense. Followed by to.

Example: ‘Poets are nearly all prone to melancholy.’;

lying face downward

having a tendency (to); often used in combination;

Example: ‘a child prone to mischief’; ‘failure-prone’;

likely or liable to suffer from, do, or experience something unpleasant or regrettable

Example: ‘he was written off by many as too injury-prone’; ‘farmed fish are prone to disease’;

lying flat, especially face downwards

Example: ‘a prone position’; ‘I was lying prone on a foam mattress’;

with a downward slope or direction.

Lying down.

Inactive; idle.

A bicycle or tricycle that places the rider in a reclined posture.

Leaning; reclining; lying; as, the recumbent posture of the Romans at their meals. Hence, figuratively; Resting; inactive; idle.

lying down; in a position of comfort or rest

(especially of a person or effigy) lying down

Example: ‘recumbent statues’;

(of a plant) growing close to the ground

Example: ‘recumbent shrubs’;

a type of bicycle designed to be ridden lying almost flat on one's back.