-ate

¹ 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 ² 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 ³ 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 ⁴ American  

[eyt, et] / eɪt, ɛt /

verb

1. simple past tense of eat.

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Ate ⁵ 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 ⁶ American  

1. equipment that makes a series of tests automatically.

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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 -ate¹

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

Origin of -ate²

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

Origin of -ate³

< 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

Origin of Ate⁵

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

Origin of ATE⁶

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

Example Sentences

Jacques Pépin, a French-born chef who was a longtime friend of Child’s, recalls what everyday Americans ate around that time.

From The Wall Street Journal

The last thing I ate was a blueberry muffin on the plane.

From Literature

“What happened to good, old-fashioned romaine? Or iceberg. I remember when everyone ate iceberg lettuce.”

From Literature

In reality, I’m thinking about the last time I ate cookies-and.cream ice cream.

From Literature

Probably the tomato soup Lily ate yesterday.

From Literature

Related Words

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