agate

noun

ag·​ate ˈa-gət 

often attributive

1

: a fine-grained variegated chalcedony having its colors arranged in stripes, blended in clouds, or showing mosslike forms

2

: something made of or fitted with agate: such as

a

: a drawplate used by gold-wire drawers

b

: a playing marble of agate

3

a

: a size of type approximately 5¹/₂ point

b

: condensed information (such as advertisements or box scores) set especially in agate type

Examples of agate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

On the starboard side lies a bar embellished with amethyst and agate; on the port side is a hookah room with fold-down sea terraces. —Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 5 Sep. 2025

See large-scale artworks at Donald Judd’s Chinati Foundation, and check out Moonlight Gemstones to see (and maybe purchase) the feathery, milky wonder of West Texas agate. —Eva Frederick, Travel + Leisure, 26 Aug. 2025

The three of us spent a very enjoyable stretch of days together, walking, talking, drinking vodka and schnapps, watching a rustic Azerbaijani family’s YouTube channel, and cutting open agates on the lapidary saw that Lockwood and Kendall keep in their basement. —Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2025

Kids can hunt for pieces of Lake Superior agate, the Minnesota state rock. —Jared Kaufman, Twin Cities, 18 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English achates, accate, agaten, borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French achate, agathe, borrowed from Latin achātēs, borrowed from Greek achā́tēs, of uncertain origin

Note: According to Theophrastus and Pliny, the stone was named after a river in Sicily. Modern etymologists seem disinclined to believe this and suggest that the river was named after the stone. The voiced stop in the medieval French forms, which has become the dominant form in Modern French and English, begins to appear in Medieval Latin, and may be owed to Medieval Latin agapis, a word of obscure origin used for both the agate and lapis lazuli; it has been suggested that agapis is itself a distortion of achates (crossed with Latin lapis "stone"?), though this is far from clear.

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing agate

• agate line
• agate ware
• moss agate

Rhymes for agate

• fagot
• maggot

Kids Definition

agate

noun

ag·​ate ˈag-ət 

1

: a smooth-looking quartz having its colors arranged in stripes or forms that look like clouds or moss

2

: a playing marble of agate or glass