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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  

[ayt, et] / eɪt, ɛt /

verb

1. simple past tense of eat.

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Ate ² American  

[ay-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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ate Ate ATE -ate

On returning home he ate pizza and played video games, claiming he "had to disconnect".

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

At the dinner, Graham ate little and talked a lot.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

But just as sales picked up, food-safety scares tied to lettuce and jalapeños ate into demand in the restaurant sector.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Researchers recorded what patients ate at every meal and collected microbiome samples each day.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

The food was served family style and I ate so much I came close to making myself sick.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

"Like Ate Alex, I want to win at Wimbledon, WTA, and various tournaments around the world," Torrecampo said, referring to Eala with the Filipino word for elder sister.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

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

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

And she cites your book, "Cinderella Ate My Daughter."

From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2022

Ate that bread an’jam an’ build yourself up.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

The council's notice 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 ● Feb. 28, 2024

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

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

Those part-time offerings have so far been underwhelmed with applicants, but some full-time ATE programs are S.R.O.

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

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

Elongata -ate: drawn out; lengthened; much longer than wide.

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

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

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