ate
/i:t/
Definition
- Verb:
- To consume food: The primary meaning of "ate" is the simple past tense of the verb "eat," which means to put food into the mouth, chew, and swallow it.
- To erode or destroy gradually: "Ate" can also describe the past action of something, like a chemical or force, corroding, wearing away, or consuming something else.
Usage Examples
- Verb (Consume food):
- She ate an apple for a snack.
- We ate dinner at seven o'clock last night.
- Verb (Erode/Destroy):
- The acid ate through the metal plate over time.
- Rust had eaten holes in the old car's body.
Advanced Usage
- "ate away at": To gradually erode or consume something, either physically or metaphorically.
- The constant criticism ate away at his confidence.
- "ate up": Consumed completely; also used informally to mean being very enthusiastic about or absorbed by something.
- He ate up all the cookies.
- The audience ate up every word of his speech.
Variants and Related Words
- Eat (v): The base form of the verb.
- Eaten (v): The past participle form.
- Eater (n): One who eats.
- Eating (n/adj): The act of consuming food; or relating to food consumption.
Synonyms
- Consumed: Took in as food.
- Devoured: Ate quickly or hungrily.
- Ingested: Took food into the body.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Eat into: To use up a part of something, especially resources like time or money.
- The car repairs ate into our savings.
- Eat out: To have a meal at a restaurant.
- They ate out to celebrate.
- Eat in: To have a meal at home.
- We decided to eat in tonight.
Related Idioms
- Eat one's words: To be forced to retract a statement, often humiliatingly.
- After his prediction was proven wrong, he had to eat his words.
- Eat humble pie: To admit one's error and apologize humbly.
- He had to eat humble pie after the project failed due to his oversight.
- Eat your heart out: Used to express envy, often humorously or boastfully.
- Look at my new car—eat your heart out!
Noun
-
goddess of criminal rashness and its punishment
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