Meaning & use
eat
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To take food into your mouth, chew it and swallow it.
Grammar: Works with or without an object: eat an apple, we eat at six.
Patterns
- eat something
- eat with someone
- eat out
We usually eat dinner around seven.
She ate a banana before the race.
The children eat at a table in the kitchen.
verbintransitive
To have a meal, especially at a particular time or place.
Grammar: No object; often with a place or time: eat at home.
Patterns
- eat out
- eat in
Let's eat out tonight instead of cooking.
They eat late during the summer.
Do you want to eat before the movie?
verbphrasal verbfigurative
To gradually wear away or destroy something, as rust or worry does.
Grammar: Usually eat away at something or eat into something.
Patterns
- eat away at something
- eat into something
Rust has eaten away at the bridge supports.
Rising costs are eating into our savings.
Guilt ate at him for weeks.
Word forms
| third person singular | eats |
|---|---|
| past tense | ate |
| past participle | eaten |
| -ing form | eating |
Common combinations
- eat breakfast
- I never eat breakfast on weekdays.
- eat healthily
- She tries to eat healthily during the week.
- eat out
- They like to eat out on Fridays.
- eat your words
- He had to eat his words when the plan worked.
- what's eating you
- You look upset; what's eating you?
Synonyms and how they differ
- consume
- Consume is formal and can include drinking or using up resources, while eat is limited to food.
- devour
- Devour means to eat quickly and hungrily, with much more force than plain eat.
- dine
- Dine is formal and refers to having a proper meal, not just any eating.
- munch
- Munch means chewing noisily or steadily, usually on a snack.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: eat or ate / eight?
eat vs ate / eight
Ate is the past tense of eat, while eight is the number; they sound the same in many accents.
Practice
Yesterday we ____ lunch on the terrace.
Choose one answer.
Ate is the past tense, which fits yesterday. Eaten is the past participle and needs an auxiliary like have.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “eat”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.