Meaning & use
bate
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitiveliteraryarchaic
To hold back or reduce the strength of something, especially your breath, in a moment of tension.
Grammar: Almost only found in the phrase with bated breath; the past participle is bated.
Patterns
- bate your breath
- with bated breath
The crowd waited with bated breath for the results.
She bated her breath as the door slowly opened.
We watched with bated breath as the climber reached the top.
verbtransitivearchaic
To lessen or hold back something such as anger or enthusiasm.
Grammar: Old use, found in older novels; modern writers use abate or reduce.
Patterns
- bate your enthusiasm
- bate your anger
He bated his anger when he saw his mother in the doorway.
Nothing could bate her zeal for the cause.
The long wait bated their excitement.
Word forms
| third person singular | bates |
|---|---|
| past tense | bated |
| past participle | bated |
| -ing form | bating |
Common combinations
- with bated breath
- Fans waited with bated breath for the final whistle.
- bated breath
- There was a silence of bated breath.
- wait with bated breath
- I'm waiting with bated breath for her reply.
- watch with bated breath
- They watched with bated breath as the rocket rose.
Synonyms and how they differ
- abate
- Abate means to become less strong and is the standard modern word, while bate is almost never used alone.
- restrain
- Restrain means to hold something back by force or self-control and is common in everyday language.
- hold
- Hold in the phrase hold your breath is the ordinary way to say it, while bate adds a literary feeling of suspense.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: bate or bait?
bate vs bait
Bait is food used to attract fish or a trap, so 'baited breath' is a common spelling mistake; the correct phrase is bated breath.
Practice
Everyone waited with ______ breath to hear who had won the prize.
Choose one answer.
Bated breath means breath held in suspense; baited, batted and bathed are different words that do not fit the phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.