ate

[eyt, et] / eɪt, ɛt /

Jump To:

consume food v.
erode, wear away; use up v.

VERB

consume food

Synonyms

STRONGEST

attack bite chew devour dine feed ingest inhale nibble pick swallow

STRONG

absorb banquet bolt breakfast cram digest dispatch gorge gormandize graze lunch masticate munch nosh ruminate scarf scoff snack sup wolf

WEAK

break bread chow down dispose of fall to feast upon gobble up have a bite have a meal have for make pig of oneself partake of peck at pig out polish off pork out put away take food take in take nourishment

Antonyms

STRONGEST

abstain

STRONG

misunderstand open

WEAK

build maintain preserve

VERB

erode, wear away; use up

Synonyms

STRONGEST

bite drain nibble

STRONG

condense corrode crumble decay decompose disappear disintegrate dissipate dissolve exhaust gnaw liquefy melt rot rust spill squander vanish

WEAK

run through waste away

Antonyms

STRONG

appear arrive build coagulate combine develop flourish grow hoard improve put together save solidify unite

WEAK

maintain preserve

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:

ate

Even though we just ate, we are already thinking about where we should go for dinner.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

At first, he ate well and trained well only because she told him to.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

I ate sea barnacles and saw the tomb of St. James.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Xu, whose mother died when he was a year old, recalled in a speech how he ate only sweet potato and steamed bread in his school years.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

“So we started making people believe that we ate humans so they’d leave us alone,” said Bork.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff