ate

¹ American  

[eyt, et] / eɪt, ɛt /

verb

1. simple past tense of eat.

---

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.

---

ATE ³ American  

1. equipment that makes a series of tests automatically.

---

-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 .

---

-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 .

---

-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 ).

---

-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

---

-ate ² British  

suffix

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

   episcopate

   electorate

---

Ate ³ British  

/ ˈɑːtɪ, ˈeɪtɪ /

noun

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

---

ate ⁴ British  

/ eɪt, ɛt /

verb

1. the past tense of eat

---

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

In this study, researchers did not directly measure pesticide levels in the foods participants ate.

From Science Daily • Apr. 17, 2026

Jimmy ate in restaurants associated with Sinatra and visited the singer's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Paramount Studios.

From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026

We ate more foods engineered for shelf life and were fed antibiotics without fully understanding the potential downsides.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

For years, she used to say the Supreme Court was a “family” and that they all got along great—they were all friends who worked together, ate together, and liked each other.

From Slate • Apr. 10, 2026

Everyone seemed to like them, even those who occasionally ate them, and rock bellies collected relationships in the same way squirrels gathered nuts—that is to say, with very little discretion.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

Related Words

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