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to eat

to eat

97 7.2
Make someone worry a lot about something and feel bad inside
  • verb
  • /it/
  • Informal
: roer
  • Worrying about the future can eat at your peace of mind.
  • eat away at
  • eat into the soul

You know, it'll eat at you, it'll eat you from the inside out.

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Examples

  • I want to show them that, miraculously, you don't have to eat those feelings.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • These mistruths, they eat away at you at night.

  • But the big thing eating us up is our holding cost.

  • You could see him watch her sometimes and know it was eating his heart out.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Fear and regret have eaten you alive.

  • I was fearful that after eating, she would be overwhelmed with guilt and anxiety.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Self-control and coping as mediators in the relationship between family functioning and eating attitudes and behavior.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Fresh-cut veggies, including ready-to-eat salads, account for most of these sales.

    Academic text (2005)
  • The uncertainty of the situation was eating him alive inside.

  • Her insecurities began to eat away at her confidence over time.

Synonyms

to eat at
vsto eat
  • Informal
47 7.1

Gradually make someone feel worse or less confident

means persistent anxiety and worry rather than general gradual damage
to eat into
vsto eat
9 6.8

To make someone feel more and more upset or angry inside

focuses on general persistent worry and anxiety rather than growing anger
to eat on
vsto eat
  • Informal
1 9.1

To worry someone for a long time

is a broader persistent anxiety without the nagging emphasis

Antonyms

172 1.0

To make someone feel less upset or in pain

123 3.4

To make someone feel less worried and more confident

Idioms

Defeat someone easily without much effort

to eat shit
  • Offensive
26 9.9

Tell someone in a rude way to go away or warn they will be badly embarrassed

7 7.4

To be left far behind by someone in a race or game

to eat crow
  • Informal
6 8.9

To admit you were wrong and feel embarrassed

to eat their own
  • Literature
6 9.5

To turn against people in your own group

6 3.9

So pretty it looks like you could eat it

to eat dirt
  • Informal
5 8.9

To admit you are wrong and accept feeling ashamed, often unwillingly

to eat like a pig
  • Offensive
5 7.8

To eat in a very messy and greedy way

4 8.4

Beat someone easily to show you are much better

to eat Wheaties
  • Informal
4 9.9

To feel full of energy and ready to do a big task

4 8.6

To beat someone in business by taking their customers and sales

3 8.3

Very hungry and wanting to eat a lot

eat my shorts
  • Offensive
3 9.9

Tell someone you strongly refuse or do not believe them as a joke

2 7.9

To admit you are wrong and feel embarrassed

to eat lead
  • Offensive
2 9.9

To be shot at with bullets

2 4.9

To eat a very large amount of food

To eat so much at someone's home that they have almost no food left

to eat their young
  • Literature
2 9.9

To harm or betray people in your own group to help yourself

1 6.0

To eat only a very small amount of food

1 9.9

To cause trouble by acting badly where you work or live

eat the rich
  • Informal
1 9.8

A chant people use to protest the rich and call for sharing wealth, often in a joking way

1 8.2

Enjoy something a lot, like a show or tasty food

1 9.9

Avoid mixing your personal life with your work life because it causes problems

1 9.1

To speak angrily to someone and criticize them

to eat my lunch
  • Informal
1 9.0

To beat someone and gain an advantage over them in competition

1 6.6

To admit you were wrong and take back what you said

To finish a very large task by doing small easy steps

to eat his gun
  • Offensive
1 9.9

To say you want to kill yourself to show you feel very desperate, often offensive

8.6

To eat food to feel better when you are sad or stressed

9.9

To say as a joke that you will kill yourself because you feel very frustrated

to eat one's hat
  • Informal
9.1

To say you are very sure something will not happen and would do something silly if it did

8.6

To feel very jealous or sad because someone else has what you want

Use a company's own products to show they work and learn from them

Use saved resources now in a way that harms future success

to eat the mic
  • Informal
8.9

To speak or sing into a microphone with strong confidence and energy to make the audience pay attention

to eat the onion
  • Informal
9.6

To face a difficult or unpleasant problem without avoiding it

A floor so clean you could eat from it

A joking phrase that shows old ideas about how men should act

Phrasal Verbs

90 2.8

Completely swallow something like land or light

61 1.3

To have a meal at a restaurant instead of at home

To choose foods that keep your body healthy

to eat at
  • Informal
47 7.1

Gradually make someone feel worse or less confident

45 1.0

Finish all the food on your plate

43 4.1

Slowly damages metal, rock and someone's confidence by chemicals or steady pressure

35 4.9

So clean that you can eat from it without worrying about dirt or germs

to eat up
  • Informal
31 3.1

Use up money or time quickly

to eat away at
  • Informal
27 4.4

To damage something slowly over time, for example a building or a person's confidence

12 1.1

Have a meal at home instead of going to a restaurant

9 6.8

To make someone feel more and more upset or angry inside

To eat more food because you are pregnant and need to feed your baby too

To betray or harm members of the same group, often during internal fighting

to eat on
  • Informal
1 9.1

To worry someone for a long time

1 4.5

Slowly wears away rock and soil by wind or water

Compounds

bite to eat
  • Informal
36 1.8

A small quick meal or snack

7 2.8

Food prepared in advance that you can eat without cooking

1 2.7

A low-cost meal from a restaurant, cafe, or food stall

How Worrying

to consume
196 5.3
to eat
  • Informal
97 7.2
to worry
187 1.0
trouble
∞ 1.0
to bother
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

eat infinitive
eating present participle
eats third person singular
ate past
eaten past participle

Etymology

Eat can mean 'worry' because people used the picture of something slowly using you up to talk about feelings, like a worry that 'eats' you inside. So when we say 'don't let it eat you', we mean 'don't let it slowly destroy your peace'.