consummate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
consummates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
consummated,
past participle, past
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consummating
present participle
-
to bring to a state of perfection; fulfill.
- Synonyms:
- achieve, accomplish, finish, perfect, complete
-
to complete (an arrangement, agreement, or the like) by a pledge or the signing of a contract.
The company consummated its deal to buy a smaller firm.
-
to complete (the union of a marriage) by the first marital sexual intercourse.
adjective
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complete or perfect; supremely skilled; superb.
a consummate master of the violin.
- Antonyms:
- unfinished, imperfect
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being of the highest or most extreme degree.
a work of consummate skill; an act of consummate savagery.
verb
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to bring to completion or perfection; fulfil
-
to complete (a marriage) legally by sexual intercourse
adjective
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accomplished or supremely skilled
a consummate artist
-
(prenominal) (intensifier)
a consummate fool
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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consummationnoun
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consummatornoun
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consummativeadjective
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consummatoryadjective
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half-consummatedadjective
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unconsummateadjective
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unconsummatedadjective
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unconsummativeadjective
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consummatelyadverb
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unconsummatelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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consummatesimple
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consummatessimple
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have consummatedperfect
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has consummatedperfect
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am consummatingprogressive
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are consummatingprogressive
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is consummatingprogressive
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have been consummatingperfect progressive
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has been consummatingperfect progressive
Past
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consummatedsimple
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had consummatedperfect
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was consummatingprogressive
-
were consummatingprogressive
-
had been consummatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of consummate
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English (adjective), from Latin consummātus “completed,” past participle of consummāre “to complete, bring to perfection,” from con- con- + summ(a) sum + -āre, infinitive verb suffix
Explanation
Consummate means complete, finished, or masterful. If you refer to someone as a consummate chef, then you are saying he is the ultimate chef. If you say someone is a consummate jerk, then you are saying he is the ultimate jerk. Consummate can be used to describe something good or bad: consummate joy, a consummate liar. To consummate means to bring something to completion, but it often refers specifically to making a marriage complete by having sexual relations. The adjective is pronounced KÄN-sə-mit, but the verb is pronounced KÄN-sə-māt.
Vocabulary lists containing consummate
The Book Thief
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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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:
“A consummate professional, he was an actor’s actor — humble, kind, and incredible at his craft.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
A consummate insider, Winer had parlayed six years as chief of staff to Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii into a lucrative lobbying career with a firm called Strategies 360.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
And in a shift in strategy, veterans Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck were brought in to add experience and their consummate professionalism to the Chelsea dressing room.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
They were consummate problem solvers who had applied that skill to their work lives, often to great effect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
He had a keen mind, and a consummate poker face.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Yet the secret genius of "Your Love" is that the song never directly spells out whether the narrator consummates his crush in real life; we only get one side of the story.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2023
With “Part II,” Hogg consummates a sweeping, inward-looking masterwork, one that reexamines and in certain cases amends reality, the likes of which few filmmakers reach in their careers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2022
Most times, the ritual is all sound and fury and consummates its purpose without any actual violence.
From Newsweek ● Sep. 9, 2013
A true woman is "Like the keystone to an arch That consummates all beauty: She's like the music to a march That sheds a joy on duty."
From Stray Thoughts for Girls by Lucy H. M. Soulsby
The political idealist consummates the alliance of vision with method.
From Lincoln, the Politician by T. Aaron Levy
That said, there was never much doubt that the deal would be consummated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
"This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all Nato Nations."
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2026
In an age when every middle-class household could afford a few hearth gods, the superior collector consummated his passion for beauty against the “prevailing winds of progress, fashion, democracy, money, and modernity.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
The team also poured millions into NIL deals consummated before the House settlement so that players could benefit prior to the NCAA’s clearinghouse, NIL Go, going into effect July 1.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2025
Finally the whole awkward device for getting the curse of Prometheus before the reader is consummated by raising up the phantasm of Jupiter which repeats the curse, word for word.
From The English Novel And the Principle of its Development by Sidney Lanier
The agency asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals late on Thursday to require the companies to delay consummating the transaction while the court considered the FTC's broader appeal.
From Reuters ● Jul. 14, 2023
Is trauma preventing B and G from consummating their love, or has their youthful dependence cast them into sibling roles?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2022
The attorneys had argued Twitter was heavily reliant on Slack in consummating the deal, with multiple channels that hosted discussions about the merger.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 7, 2022
They have chopped and changed and dropped and recalled spinners, hopping from Jack Leach to Dom Bess to Moeen Ali, and flirting with Matt Parkinson without ever consummating the relationship.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2021
Then never seek to learn wherefore, when at the still tender age of fifteen, I resolved upon consummating so dreadful a sacrifice as to affect dumbness.
From Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf by George W. M. (George William MacArthur) Reynolds
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
