Sate is a fairly formal verb: to fill a desire until you have had enough, or too much — most often hunger, thirst, or some pleasure. If food sates you, you are no longer hungry; if it more than sates you, you feel stuffed. The sense people reach for is that feeling of “enough, maybe too much,” though actually sate itself is the doing word, and the feeling word you will hear more is sated. You can sate curiosity or a need for praise as well as a need for food; people stretch it to any appetite. It is not an everyday kitchen word. A parent is more likely to say “I’ve had enough” than “That will sate me.” There is a different, older sate that meant sat (the past of sit); that is not this meaning.