EATS Synonyms: 245 Similar and Opposite Words

eats 1 of 2

plural noun

as in food

substances intended to be eaten there are some good eats at the buffet table

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eats

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of eat

as in consumes

to take in as food having gone all day without food, we greedily ate the hamburgers

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as in erodes

to consume or wear away gradually the pot's protective coating was eaten away by the acid

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as in dines

to take a meal where's the best place to eat in this town?

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diets
fasts

as in annoys

to disturb the peace of mind of (someone) especially by repeated disagreeable acts it really eats me the way people go to national parks to enjoy nature—and then leave their litter behind

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of eats

Verb

Some students from low-income families avoid taking free meals out of shame; if everyone eats for free, proponents say, that stigma goes away. — Mark Pazniokas, Hartford Courant, 18 Sep. 2026 Savouring each mouthful, my father eats slowly, head tuned to the flavours in his mouth. — Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2026 Hailey seems like one of those women who eats one meal of Taco Bell a day and hasn’t exercised since Friends was on the air. — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 16 Sep. 2026 Everyone eats the same value meal because there’s nothing else to eat. — Longreads, 15 Sep. 2026 When the time is right, the snake jumps into action and eats the bird. — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 10 Sep. 2026 Every click slowly eats into your revenue, and scaling ad spend will only increase your losses faster. — Bar Maimon, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2026 Most markets skip plastic bags, and plenty of vendors run cash-only or tack on a card fee that eats into your savings. — Lauren Schuster, Sacbee.com, 1 Sep. 2026 The current eats the sacrificial metal instead of the bridge. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 31 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for eats

Verb

Every unnecessary review consumes attention that could have been directed toward a patient or facility with genuine risk.

— Arpan Saxena, Forbes.com, 25 Sep. 2026
With such scrupulousness, Parton’s estate seemed primed to avoid the kind of posthumous infighting and chaos that so often consumes these institutions.

— Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of consumes

Verb

When serious failures involving student safety, civil rights and district policy are followed by another administrative reassignment instead of clear accountability, public trust erodes.

— Marsha Sutton, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Sep. 2026
This is exactly the kind of arrangement that erodes public trust.

— José Javier Rodríguez, Sun Sentinel, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of erodes

Verb

The larvae come from the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly, which invades open wounds or the mucous membranes of body openings in any warm-blooded animal, including humans, and devours tissue, causing the wounds to become increasingly deep and painful.

— Abraham Tellez, Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 2026
The fungus then slowly devours the ant, sprouting through its head in one final indignity.

— Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 6 Aug. 2026

Definition of devours

Verb

That international history even feeds the project’s co-production structure.

— Callum McLennan, Variety, 24 Sep. 2026
The payoff comes from stacking small wins, including bitter flavor cues that wake up the cephalic phase of digestion, fiber that feeds gut bacteria and nutrients that support overall health.

— Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of feeds

Verb

This is why the sameness creeping into corporate communications right now bothers me more than the question of whether AI can write a good press release.

— Amanda Simonian, Forbes.com, 25 Sep. 2026
Kurt's key takeaways What bothers me most about DoppelCart is how convincing these fake stores can look.

— Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2026

Definition of bothers

Verb

Knowing that Madame Lalouette’s sales numbers are too high to fire her, Carla attempts to transfer Madame Morel to a different department — a move that irritates her superiors and highlights her weakness.

— Beatrice Loayza, Variety, 9 Sep. 2026
With contact dermatitis, a product like a soap or chemical irritates the skin or causes an allergic reaction, leading to symptoms like itching, discoloration, swelling, or even blisters.

— Ayren Jackson-Cannady, Allure, 20 Aug. 2026