devour
Americanverb (used with object)
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to swallow or eat up hungrily, voraciously, or ravenously.
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to consume destructively, recklessly, or wantonly.
Fire devoured the old museum.
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to engulf or swallow up.
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to take in greedily with the senses or intellect.
to devour the works of Freud.
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to absorb or engross wholly.
a mind devoured by fears.
verb
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to swallow or eat up greedily or voraciously
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to waste or destroy; consume
the flames devoured the curtains
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to consume greedily or avidly with the senses or mind
he devoured the manuscripts
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to engulf or absorb
the flood devoured the land
Other Word Forms
- devourer noun
- devouring adjective
- devouringly adverb
- devouringness noun
- interdevour verb (used with object)
- predevour verb (used with object)
- redevour verb (used with object)
- self-devouring adjective
- undevoured adjective
Etymology
Origin of devour
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English devouren, from Anglo-French, Old French devourer, from Latin dēvorāre “to swallow down,” from dē- de- + vorāre “to eat up”
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.
Her phone was kept on silent; electro-beats hummed in the background; digestive biscuits were devoured.
From BBC
"I thought Bones always devoured the runway, they have such a great presence whenever they hit the stage," he said.
From BBC
In India's tech capital Bengaluru, the morning "rush hour" lasts so long it devours half the workday, throttling productivity in a city often viewed as the poster child of a booming economy.
From Barron's
They diligently tune in to earnings calls and company filings, and devour every piece of content featuring Chief Executive Alex Karp.
From MarketWatch
“Of course it’s true. Division is a fairly recent beast that wants to devour us.”
From Los Angeles Times
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.
