Showing results for "ate"

• past tense form of eat.

Jump To:

• 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.

---

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.

---

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

See Examples For:

ate Ate ATE -ate

The first alpha-gal fatality was confirmed in 2025 after Brian Waitzel, an otherwise healthy JetBlue pilot, died four hours after he ate a hamburger at a backyard barbecue in New Jersey.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026

The researchers also note that food frequency questionnaires rely on participants accurately remembering what they ate, which can introduce recall bias.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026

Their pitching is miserable, their defense is no better and they run the bases like they ate too much Tex-Mex on their way to work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

If I ate a soup I liked out in the world, I’d jot down what was in it, what the broth tasted like, sometimes sketch the bowl.

From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026

It tasted wonderful and I ate it, waited another half a day and ate the rest, and it wasn’t so bad.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen

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

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

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

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

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

Related Words

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