WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : -ate.
Etymology : [From the L. suffix -atus, the past participle ending of verbs of the 1st conj.]
Definition : 1. As an ending of participles or participial adjectives it is equivalent to -ed; as, situate or situated; animate or animated.

2. As the ending of a verb, it means to make, to cause, to act, etc.; as, to propitiate (to make propitious); to animate (to give life to).

3. As a noun suffix, it marks the agent; as, curate, delegate. It also sometimes marks the office or dignity; as, tribunate.

4. In chemistry it is used to denote the salts formed from those acids whose names end -ic (excepting binary or halogen acids); as, sulphate from sulphuric acid, nitrate from nitric acid, etc. It is also used in the case of certain basic salts.


Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913