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• ate
  ate

  verb

  simple past tense of eat.
• Ate
  Ate

  noun

  an ancient Greek goddess personifying the fatal blindness or recklessness that produces crime and the divine punishment that follows it.
• ATE
  ATE

  equipment that makes a series of tests automatically.
• -ate
  -ate

  a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, its English distribution paralleling that of Latin. The form originated as a suffix added to a- stem verbs to form adjectives (separate ). The resulting form could also be used independently as a noun (advocate ) and came to be used as a stem on which a verb could be formed (separate; advocate; agitate ). In English the use as a verbal suffix has been extended to stems of non-Latin origin: calibrate; acierate .

ate

¹ American  

[eyt, et] / eɪt, ɛt /

verb

1. simple past tense of eat.

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Ate ² American  

[ey-tee, ah-tee] / ˈeɪ ti, ˈɑ ti /

noun

1. an ancient Greek goddess personifying the fatal blindness or recklessness that produces crime and the divine punishment that follows it.

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ATE ³ American  

1. equipment that makes a series of tests automatically.

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-ate ⁴ American  

1. a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, its English distribution paralleling that of Latin. The form originated as a suffix added to a- stem verbs to form adjectives (separate ). The resulting form could also be used independently as a noun (advocate ) and came to be used as a stem on which a verb could be formed (separate; advocate; agitate ). In English the use as a verbal suffix has been extended to stems of non-Latin origin: calibrate; acierate .

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-ate ⁵ American  

1. a specialization of -ate, used to indicate a salt of an acid ending in -ic , added to a form of the stem of the element or group: nitrate; sulfate .

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-ate ⁶ American  

1. a suffix occurring originally in nouns borrowed from Latin, and in English coinages from Latin bases, that denote offices or functions (consulate; triumvirate; pontificate ), as well as institutions or collective bodies (electorate; senate ); sometimes extended to denote a person who exercises such a function (magistrate; potentate ), an associated place (consulate ), or a period of office or rule (protectorate ). Joined to stems of any origin, ate3 signifies the office, term of office, or territory of a ruler or official (caliphate; khanate; shogunate ).

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-ate ¹ British  

suffix

1. (forming adjectives) possessing; having the appearance or characteristics of

   fortunate

   palmate

   Latinate

2. (forming nouns) a chemical compound, esp a salt or ester of an acid

   carbonate

   stearate

3. (forming nouns) the product of a process

   condensate

4. forming verbs from nouns and adjectives

   hyphenate

   rusticate

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-ate ² British  

suffix

1. denoting office, rank, or a group having a certain function

   episcopate

   electorate

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Ate ³ British  

/ ˈɑːtɪ, ˈeɪtɪ /

noun

1. Greek myth a goddess who makes men blind so that they will blunder into guilty acts

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ate ⁴ British  

/ eɪt, ɛt /

verb

1. the past tense of eat

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Etymology

Origin of Ate²

< Greek, special use of átē reckless impulse, ruin, akin to aáein to mislead, harm

Origin of ATE³

a(utomatic) t(est) e(quipment)

Origin of -ate⁴

< Latin -ātus (masculine), -āta (feminine), -ātum (neuter), equivalent to -ā- thematic vowel + -tus, -ta, -tum past participle suffix

Origin of -ate⁵

Probably originally in New Latin phrases, as plumbum acetātum salt produced by the action of acetic acid on lead

Origin of -ate⁶

< Latin -ātus (genitive -ātūs ), generalized from v. derivatives, as augurātus office of an augur ( augurā(re) to foretell by augury + -tus suffix of v. action), construed as derivative of augur augur ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ate Ate ATE -ate

“He just sat there and ate it,” McKay would later testify.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Eubank slapped Benn with an egg; Garcia ate one at Thursday's news conference.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

I still think about a shokupan dog I ate years ago at a Japanese bakery in Washington whose name I have entirely forgotten, though apparently not its merchandise.

From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2026

The area is littered with massive piles of shells called middens, left by indigenous groups who ate the river’s wild oysters for more than a thousand years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

But I was also starving, and I watched hungrily as Frederick and Bruno tore through my satchel and ate all the food I had packed.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

On the final page of “The Snakes That Ate Florida,” Mr. Frazier invokes another great scribbler, E.B.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

"Ate Bianca, Jiggly, I hope you know that you are loved," said the franchise's breakout star, Marina Summers, using a term of endearmeant in Tagalog.

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2025

A trip to the aquarium yields “The Man Who Ate the Crab.”

From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024

“Yeah, people are really going to hate her next book, ‘Kristi Noem: Then I Ate It.’”

From New York Times ● Apr. 30, 2024

We called him The Boy Who Ate Beans, but as far as I know he never ate beans again.

From "Lost Boy, Lost Girl" by John Bul Dau

The pub, known for its sloping walls and floor due to mining subsidence in the area, was bought from Marston's by ATE Farms Limited in July.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2023

The pub, known for its sloping walls and floor, was bought from Marston's by ATE Farms Limited in July.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2023

The BBC has attempted to contact new owners ATE Farms - run by a Carly Taylor - for comment over the loss of its asset.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2023

La-Salle Elementary School, an ATE language academy, received 1,000 applicants for 450 slots.

From Time Magazine Archive

So, begorra! there wor nothing left for me to do but to ATE thim!

From Condensed Novels: New Burlesques by Bret Harte

Note that there is a system for naming some polyatomic ions; -ate and -ite are suffixes designating polyatomic ions containing more or fewer oxygen atoms.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

An acid terminating in -ous forms a salt ending in -ite, and an oxyacid ending in -ic forms a salt ending in -ate.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 1 "Châtelet" to "Chicago" by Various

Nodulose -us -ate: with small nodes or nodules: a surface sculpture of knots or links, connected by an undulating line.

From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by John. B. Smith

Verb Suffixes -ate -fy -ise -ize = to make; render; perform an act.

From New Word-Analysis Or, School Etymology of English Derivative Words by William Swinton

A ternary acid with the termination -ic gives a salt with the name ending in -ate, while an acid with termination -ous gives a salt with the name ending in -ite.

From An Elementary Study of Chemistry by William McPherson

Related Words

• attack
• bite
• chew
• devour
• dine
• feed
• ingest
• inhale
• nibble
• pick
• swallow