-ates
-ates is the third-person singular simple present indicative of -ate.
-ates is the plural of -ate.
Meaning of -ate
Suffix (1)
-ate (adjective-forming suffix, comparative more -ate, superlative most -ate)
- forms adjectives with meaning "having the specified thing"
- lobate — “having lobes, lobed”
- forms adjectives with meaning "characterized by the specified thing"
- Italianate — “characterized by Italian features”
- forms adjectives with meaning "resembling the specified thing"
- palmate — “resembling a palm leaf”
- ending of Latin- (ending in -ātus) and French-borrowed (ending in -é) participial adjectives
- deliberate — “deliberated”
Suffix (2)
-ate
- up until Early Modern English, formed regular past participles of verbs ending in -ate. Rare afterwards except in archaizing poetry, religious writing and Scotland. The alternative ending -ated was used from as early as Middle English
Suffix (3)
-ate (verb-forming suffix, third-person singular simple present -ates, present participle -ating, simple past and past participle -ated)
- derives or adapts verbs (mostly) from Latin stems
- Latin fōrmula (“a formula”) + -ate → formulate
Origin of -ates
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Questions about -ates
- What is -ates the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
- -ates is the third-person singular simple present indicative of -ate.
Words near -ates in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: -ates (page history and authors); -ate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “-ates.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-ates. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.