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)
-
consumed,
past participle, past
-
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
-
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
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"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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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:
As people consume more power, they are bumped into Tier 2, where electricity is more expensive, with the highest rates in Tier 3, which is only in effect from June through September.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
Intermittent fasting is a way of eating whereby you only consume food during certain windows of time.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
"So I think the costs of a healthy diet, which means an increased cost on legumes, on vegetables, on meat, is just having a big impact on what people can afford to consume."
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Darren Hopkins, from the firm, said "we depend on our vans, trucks, chippers, stump grinders, and other machinery that consume significant amounts of fuel".
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
In his stone paws, he held a stone acorn that he would never get to consume.
From "Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures" by Kate DiCamillo
A more efficient chip can improve operating economics while a larger deployment consumes additional cash.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
The source added that jamming Starlink signals -- a crucial potential tactic to disrupt communications -- is very difficult and consumes a lot of energy.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
Research in the US suggests a typical data centre consumes around 300,000 gallons of water a day, or about as much as 1,000 US households.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
When a black hole actively consumes gas, it can release tremendous amounts of energy and heat nearby material.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 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
As one might expect, it found that lower-income households struggle to fund their retirement because their resources are consumed by child-care expenses, staples such as food and gas and housing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
After Neu5Gc is consumed, the body absorbs it and can incorporate it into human tissues.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2026
Katja Hoyer’s “Weimar” is a powerful and detailed reconstruction of a “stark and terrifying example of a collapsed democracy” and how that collapse consumed the conscience of a particular city.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Every night as she fell asleep, Varsha would watch a stranger on the internet diarising what they'd consumed that day.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
“You know you don’t need to apologize, baby,” she said, and another yawn consumed her.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
“Vegetarians can benefit from creatine supplementation because they’re not consuming the foods that have higher amounts of creatine, like red meat and salmon, which have 1-2 grams per pound.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026
Firefighters were deployed to try to prevent the flames consuming the entire town hall.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
The first occurs early in the feeding process, when the black hole is consuming matter at an exceptionally high rate.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
There’s also the 5:2 diet, which involves eating normally five days out of the week, and consuming just 25% of your normal caloric intake the other two days.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
It was the look of a man who had lived long enough to understand grief’s consuming fire.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
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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.
