-ate
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-ate 1
suff.
1.
a. Having: nervate.
b. Characterized by: Latinate.
c. Resembling: lyrate.
2.
a. One that is characterized by: laminate.
b. Rank; office: rabbinate.
3. To act upon in a specified manner: acidulate.
[Ultimately from Latin -ātus, past participle suff. of verbs in -āre.]
-ate 2
suff.
1. A derivative of a specified chemical compound or element: aluminate.
2. A salt or ester of a specified acid whose name ends in -ic: acetate.
[New Latin -ātum, from Latin, neuter of -ātus, past participle suff. of verbs in -āre.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
-ate
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.
[from Latin -ātus, past participial ending of verbs ending in -āre]
-ate
suffix forming nouns
denoting office, rank, or a group having a certain function: episcopate; electorate.
[from Latin -ātus, suffix (fourth declension) of collective nouns]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ate
(eɪt; Brit. ɛt)v.
pt. of eat.
A•te
(ˈeɪ ti, ˈɑ ti)n.
an ancient Greek goddess personifying the fatal blindness or recklessness that leads to ruinous actions.
[< Greek átē]
-ate1
, a suffix occurring orig. in loanwords from Latin, as adjectives (literate; passionate), nouns (candidate; prelate), and esp. past participles of verbs, which in English may function as verbs or adjectives (consecrate; considerate; translate); now used also as a verb-forming suffix in English (calibrate; hyphenate).
[< Latin -ātus, orig. =-ā- stem vowel of verbs + -t- past participle suffix]
-ate2
, a specialization of -ate1, used to form the names of salts corresponding to acids whose names end in -ic: nitrate; sulfate.
-ate3
, a suffix occurring orig. in nouns borrowed from Latin that denote offices or functions (consulate; triumvirate), 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); now joined to stems of any origin and denoting the office, term of office, or territory of a ruler or official (caliphate; khanate).
[< Latin -ātus (genitive -ātūs), generalized from v. ders]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
-ate
A suffix used to form the name of a salt or an ester of an acid whose name ends in -ic, such as acetate, a salt or ester of acetic acid. Such salts or esters have one oxygen atom more than corresponding salts or esters with names ending in -ite. For example, a sulfate is a salt of sulfuric acid and contains the group SO4, while a sulfite contains SO3. Compare -ite.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.