In slang, ate means nailed it, did something brilliantly or perfectly. People use it to praise a performance, an outfit or even an exam answer: she ate. The top level is ate and left no crumbs, meaning it was so good there's nothing left to criticise. The tone is excited and friendly; it's the language of comments and texts. With a teacher or colleague, in an essay or in IELTS Speaking, people say did an amazing job or was brilliant.
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person + ate (that/it); ate and left no crumbs; you ate!
- your speech at the wedding? you ate, everyone was crying
- she wore the red dress to the party and honestly ate
- the band ate and left no crumbs at the festival last night
What changed
First versionDear Professor Grant, your lecture today ate.
RevisionDear Professor Grant, your lecture today was brilliant.
The email to Professor Grant is formal, and the slang ate makes it sound like a social media comment. The neutral was brilliant carries the praise; the rest of the email stays the same.
Don't confuse it with another “food” slang word: cooked means it's over, we're done for: we didn't study, we're cooked. Ate is success, cooked is failure. And ate is almost always in the past tense, either on its own or with that: you ate that.
Your turn
Did you see Mia's dance at the office party? She ___, everyone was cheering.
Show the answer
ate — The audience was cheering, so Mia did brilliantly: she ate. Was cooked means she's done for, a failure, which clashes with the crowd's excitement.
Write a comment under a video of a friend's performance: use ate and name one specific thing that went well.
bro you ate, that guitar solo at the end was insane!
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