-ator


  1. a combination of -ate1 and -or2 that forms nouns corresponding to verbs ending in -ate1 ,denoting a human agent (agitator; mediator; adjudicator) or nonhuman entity, especially a machine (incubator; regulator; vibrator) performing the function named by the verb.

Origin of -ator

1
<Latin -ātor, originally not a suffix, but the termination of nouns formed with -tor-tor from verbs whose stems ended in -ā-; in English, Latin loanwords ending in -ātor have been reanalyzed as derivatives of the past participles in -tus (see -ate1) and a suffix -or (see -or2), and many new English nouns derived from English verbs based on Latin past participles (e.g., vibrator from vibrate)

Words Nearby -ator

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British Dictionary definitions for -ator

-ator

suffix forming nouns
  1. a person or thing that performs a certain action: agitator; escalator; radiator

Origin of -ator

1
from Latin -ātor; see -ate 1 -or 1

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