Nearby Words

-ator

-ator

a combination of -ate1 and -or2 that forms nouns corresponding to verbs ending in -ate1,denoting a human agent (agitator; mediator; adjudicator) or nonhuman entity, especially a machine (incubator; regulator; vibrator) performing the function named by the verb.
Compare -tor, -or2.


Origin:
< Latin -ātor, orig. not a suffix, but the termination of nouns formed with -tor -tor from verbs whose stems ended in -ā-; in English, Latin loanwords ending in -ātor have been reanalyzed as derivatives of the past participles in -tus (see -ate1) and a suffix -or (see -or2), and many new English nouns derived from English verbs based on Latin past participles (e.g., vibrator from vibrate)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To -ator

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

-ator is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
Collins
World English Dictionary
-ator
 
suffix forming nouns
a person or thing that performs a certain action: agitator; escalator; radiator
 
[from Latin -ātor; see -ate1-or1]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature