consuming
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of consuming
Explanation
If you have a passion for art, and making it is all you can think about or do, your passion for art is consuming. It is intense and almost overwhelming. Picture a fire burning in a fireplace. The fire consumes the logs you have put in it. It completely devours them in order to burn. When something, a passion or a drive, is consuming, it dominates a person's life like that fire, and in a sense, it devours their energy and attention. Your consuming desire to travel might cause you to study abroad for a semester or even move to Europe.
Vocabulary lists containing consuming
"The Scholarship Jacket" by Marta Salinas
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Clap When You Land
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NYTimes Summer Reading Contest Winners' Words
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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.
He’s also endorsed drinking raw milk, cutting added sugar and consuming more creatine, which is a natural compound that our muscles use as a source of energy.
From Salon • May 23, 2026
The motion capture system used to prescribe each person's walking change is expensive and time consuming.
From Science Daily • May 22, 2026
Households in the bottom third by income distribution are now consuming 7% less gas, although spending by the top third of earners remains largely unaffected.
From MarketWatch • May 22, 2026
With a vast amount of the world’s oil and gas trapped inside the Strait of Hormuz and global inventories shrinking, one inevitable result is people consuming less.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026
I could see it was consuming the energy of the entire city.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
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.
