a combining form extracted from Watergate, occurring as the final element in journalistic coinages, usually nonce words, that name scandals resulting from concealed crime or other alleged improprieties in government or business: Koreagate.
suffix attached to anything to indicate "scandal involving," 1973, abstracted from Watergate, Washington, D.C., building complex, home of the National Headquarters of the Democratic Party when it was burglarized June 17, 1972.
