consume
Americanverb (used with object)
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consumes,
present (3rd person singular)
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consumed,
past participle, past
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consuming
present participle
verb (used without object)
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consumes,
present (3rd person singular)
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consumed,
past participle, past
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consuming
present participle
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to undergo destruction; waste away.
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to use or use up consumer goods.
verb
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(tr) to eat or drink
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(tr; often passive) to engross or obsess
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(tr) to use up; expend
my car consumes little oil
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to destroy or be destroyed by burning, decomposition, etc
fire consumed the forest
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(tr) to waste or squander
the time consumed on that project was excessive
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(passive) to waste away
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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overconsumeverb
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preconsumeverb (used with object)
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underconsumeverb (used with object)
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consumingadjective
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half-consumedadjective
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unconsumedadjective
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consuminglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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consumesimple
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consumessimple
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have consumedperfect
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has consumedperfect
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am consumingprogressive
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are consumingprogressive
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is consumingprogressive
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have been consumingperfect progressive
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has been consumingperfect progressive
Past
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consumedsimple
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had consumedperfect
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was consumingprogressive
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were consumingprogressive
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had been consumingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of consume
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French consumer, from Latin consūmere, from con- con- + sūmere “to take up” (equivalent to subs-, variant of sub- sub- + emere “to take, buy”; cf. emptor ( def. ))
Explanation
"The Freshman 15" describes freshman-year college students who gain about fifteen pounds because they consume way too much lousy dorm food all day long. To consume a cake is to eat it, the idea being that you ate the whole thing. To say a fire consumed a building is to say that the entire building was destroyed. Consume means to devour, to take in, to use up. The Unites States is often referred to as a consumer society because our economy is based on things being consumed. Whether it's gas, clothes, burgers, music, or anything that we use up as we purchase it, it's something that we consume. If we consume all the oil, there will be none left to burn.
Vocabulary lists containing consume
Eat Your Words
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"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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Number the Stars
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
At the same time, U.S. companies exported about 1.7 million barrels a day of excess diesel that stateside truckers, farmers and other commercial shippers didn’t consume.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
But the way people consume media has changed—some now wait until an entire series is released to binge it at once.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The findings suggest that supermassive black holes do more than consume nearby matter.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
Zambians have been urged not to consume, sell, distribute or handle meat from animals that have died suddenly or from suspected anthrax.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Whereas a vole can consume about 200 cocoons a day, a shrew, depend ing on the species, may devour up to 800!
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
As former Goldman Sachs commodity strategist Jeff Currie pointed out a month ago, “Nobody on planet earth consumes crude oil. Refineries do. Everyone else consumes gasoline and diesel.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
In the United States, that hidden water use can be twice the amount a data center consumes on its own.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
To deal with the water shortages along the Colorado River, others have suggested policies that encourage farmers to grow less hay — which consumes nearly half of the water diverted from the river.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
She consumes about 3,500 calories every day to ensure she has enough energy.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
It's a paltry amount of power, compared to what the rover consumes, but it's not nothing.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
China’s car industry has consumed market share from traditional automakers around the world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Currently the water consumed by existing data centres is relatively low.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
They had significantly higher levels of oxalate in their stool than people without IBD, even though the two groups regularly consumed similar amounts of plant-based foods.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
Opposition lawmaker Ezio Angelini says Venezuela produced 20,000 megawatts a day and consumed just 12,000 before longtime leader Hugo Chavez took power in 1999.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
The three acres consumed all our resources and time.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
Participants with the highest intake of 'non-antioxidant' preservatives had a 29% higher risk of hypertension than those consuming the lowest amounts.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
A disaster management agency official said over the weekend that 12 people had been infected with the disease after consuming dead wildlife in the Munyamadzi River area.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
“You see a lot of people consuming the minimum, what they need to get by through the week,” said owner Carina Murillo, 31, as she checked out customers on a recent weekday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
From public offerings of stocks and bonds to bank balance sheets and private-credit funds, the AI build-out is consuming every source of capital it can find.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
The English public, now consuming some eighteen pounds of sugar a year, knew little about the lives of the enslaved Africans whose labor sweetened their meals.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
