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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

One group ate a medium Hass avocado and a cup of fresh mango daily, while the control group received carbohydrate-based alternatives with comparable calorie content.

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

Airbus’s figures come a day after rival Boeing posted a quarterly loss of $116 million as higher costs ate into profits within its commercial-jet business.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

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

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

"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

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

From New York Times ● Apr. 30, 2024

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 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

His wife, Carly, controls the company ATE Farms Limited, which bought the "wonky" Black Country landmark in July.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2023

ATE Farms is run by a Carly Taylor, with George Adam Taylor, 44, a previous director.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2023

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

From Time Magazine Archive

From which acid—IC or OUS—is the salt ending in ATE derived?

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

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

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

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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