sate
1 Americanverb
verb
-
to satisfy (a desire or appetite) fully
-
to supply beyond capacity or desire
verb
Etymology
Origin of sate
First recorded in 1595–1605; variant of obsolete sade “to satiate,” Old English sadian (akin to sad ), perhaps influenced by satiate
Explanation
Sometimes you're so hungry you feel like you could eat a ten-course meal. Other times it takes just a small salad to sate your appetite, or to satisfy your hunger. The verb sate comes from the Old English sadian, “to satiate,” and can be applied to any situation regarding the satisfaction of a need or an appetite. If you have been craving something sweet, your craving might be sated by a bag of jellybeans. However, if it seems like you can never get enough jellybeans, your appetite for sweets might be described as insatiable, a word used to describe a person or entity whose appetites — literally or figuratively — are impossible to satisfy.
Vocabulary lists containing sate
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Teeming Terms: Synonyms for "Full"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Investors regard Bloom’s solid oxide fuel cell as a robust source of power to sate data centers’ endless appetite.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
That led him to the petroleum industry, where working on oil rigs in the punishing North Sea and near conflict zones helped sate his risk appetite.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
I always order chicken sate and the green papaya salad.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
The travelling India press pack is large and unrelenting and Gill struggled to sate them.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2025
Dr. Trefusis and I sate awkwardly in silence, the pretense of tuition abandoned; knowing that the coming lesson would be but a simulation of learning; and being unwilling to begin this pretense without an audience.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
The hunger for better schools among France's youth and better days for everyone else will not be so easily sated.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Those viewers were probably not sated by the FCC’s February review of the performance, which found that the songs’ lyrics had been appropriately altered for the broadcast.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2026
Oil markets have been relatively subdued considering the escalating conflict, in part because global consumers are well sated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
The question for investors posed by biotech’s strong performance last year was whether the run-up a sign of outperformance yet to come, or whether demand for biotech stocks had been sated.
From Barron's ● Jan. 5, 2026
They sated themselves on stagnant water that had been sitting untreated in a dark tank for who knew how long.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Another visitor disagreed, sating: "It's just one sign... I think it's good advertising. It gets seen a lot."
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
I’ve burned a lot of time sating my curiosity about emails like that.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2025
Workcations may be alluring, but they also deny something more important than sating our wanderlust: a chance to rest our brains.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2023
As such, she’s the frontrunner in Round 1, but there are major obstacles to the “Yellowjackets” star sating the show’s hunger for a major prize.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2023
But beyond sating the national pride that had been pricked by the Soviet advance, the prospect of being involved in something that was so untried, untested, and unexplored connected with Katherine’s truest self.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
