ate
verb
simple past tense of eat.
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ate
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Ate
Atenounan ancient Greek goddess personifying the fatal blindness or recklessness that produces crime and the divine punishment that follows it.
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ATE
ATEequipment that makes a series of tests automatically.
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-ate
-atea 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
[ayt, et]
/ eɪt, ɛt /
verb
Ate
2
American
[ay-tee, ah-tee]
/ ˈeɪ ti, ˈɑ ti /
noun
ATE
3
American
-ate
4
American
-ate
5
American
-ate
6
American
-ate
1
British
suffix
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(forming adjectives) possessing; having the appearance or characteristics of
fortunate
palmate
Latinate
-
(forming nouns) a chemical compound, esp a salt or ester of an acid
carbonate
stearate
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(forming nouns) the product of a process
condensate
-
forming verbs from nouns and adjectives
hyphenate
rusticate
-ate
2
British
suffix
Ate
3
British
/ ˈɑːtɪ, ˈeɪtɪ /
noun
ate
4
British
/ eɪt, ɛt /
verb
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In a study lasting just eight weeks, adults with prediabetes who regularly ate both fruits experienced improvements in blood vessel function and blood pressure, without gaining weight or consuming more calories.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026
Inflation obviously ate into some of those gains.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 1, 2026
"Lots of people planted vegetable gardens. We ate whatever was available. Well, thank God, we're here now," the 29-year-old added.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026
We spread out a picnic blanket, ate fried chicken, popped cherry tomatoes like candy and watched the clouds float over the treetops.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
That day he ate little of the food we cooked for him.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
The answer is not so obvious after reading “The Snakes That Ate Florida,” an excellent collection of Ian Frazier’s magazine writing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
Adam is a former co-presenter of Blue Peter and also worked on the panel show The Dog Ate My Homework on CBBC.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2022
The researchers also detailed an episode of a YouTube user expressing disapproval of a video called “A Grandma Ate Cookie Dough for Lunch Every Week. This Is What Happened to Her Bones.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 20, 2022
"What We Ate in Covid Quarantine," I wrote on the inaugural page, adding a jaunty swoosh under the title.
From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2021
Ate my fill of hot biscuits and chicken stew.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
It was served to ATE Farms Limited, the company that owns the pub, as well as the company's director George Adam Taylor, and former director Carly Taylor who stepped down in December.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2024
It had been sold by brewers Marston's to ATE Farms Limited in July, just weeks before the demolition took place.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2023
A planning application made by ATE Farms to convert former quarry land near Lutterworth, Leicestershire, into a solar farm and residential lodges attracted some objections from locals.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2023
La-Salle Elementary School, an ATE language academy, received 1,000 applicants for 450 slots.
From Time Magazine Archive
Note that the endings of the acids are OUS and IC; also that the names of their salts end in ITE and ATE.
From An Introduction to Chemical Science by Rufus Phillips Williams
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
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
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
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
Elongata -ate: drawn out; lengthened; much longer than wide.
From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by John. B. Smith
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