to convert (food) in the alimentary canal into absorbable form for assimilation into the system.
to promote the digestion of (food).
to obtain information, ideas, or principles from; assimilate mentally.
to digest a pamphlet on nuclear waste.
to arrange methodically in the mind; think over.
to digest a plan.
to bear with patience; endure.
to arrange in convenient or methodical order; reduce to a system; classify.
to condense, abridge, or summarize.
Chemistry. to soften or disintegrate (a substance) by means of moisture, heat, chemical action, or the like.
to digest food.
to undergo digestion, as food.
a collection or compendium, usually of literary, historical, legal, or scientific matter, especially when classified or condensed.
Law.
a systematic abstract of some body of law.
the Digest, a collection in fifty books of excerpts, especially from the writings of the Classical Roman jurists, compiled by order of Justinian in the 6th century a.d.; the Pandects.
Biochemistry. the product of the action of an enzyme on food or other organic material.
to subject (food) to a process of digestion
(tr) to assimilate mentally
chem to soften or disintegrate or be softened or disintegrated by the action of heat, moisture, or chemicals; decompose
(tr) to arrange in a methodical or systematic order; classify
(tr) to reduce to a summary
archaic (tr) to tolerate
a comprehensive and systematic compilation of information or material, often condensed
a magazine, periodical, etc, that summarizes news of current events
a compilation of rules of law based on decided cases
What does inventory mean? An inventory is a complete list of all merchandise or stock of items owned by or available from a business. At a store, an inventory is the complete list of all items for sale at the store. At a manufacturer, an inventory is a complete list of all the raw materials they have, as well as finished items and items being created. An inventory is also the specific set of products to sell, as in The store’s inventory of superhero capes is running low and will probably sell out soon. An inventory can also refer to figurative belongings, such as a person’s personality traits and skills. To inventory means to add things to an inventory list, whether a literal or figurative list, as in I inventoried my options for colleges and chose the school I’ll attend next year. Example: Can you take inventory tonight so we can be ready for the rush tomorrow?
See summary.
First recorded in 1350–1400; (verb) Middle English digesten, from Latin dīgestus “separated, dissolved” (past participle of dīgerere ), equivalent to dī- di- 2 + ges- “carry, bear” (base of gerere ) + -tus past participle suffix; (noun) Middle English: “collection of laws,” from Late Latin dīgesta (plural), Latin: “collection of writings,” neuter plural of dīgestus, as above
When your stomach breaks down food, it digests it. To digest is to process food so it can be absorbed into the body or information so the mind can absorb it. If you tell your mother some bad news, like say, that you failed your math test after studying so hard, she might say, "Let me take a moment to digest that information." She's not going to swallow the paper and let her stomach do the work. Instead, she's going to take a moment to sit with the news and understand it. As a noun, a digest is a magazine that breaks down information into understandable summaries.
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Investors are no longer finding it easy to digest the torrent of debt funding the artificial-intelligence buildout.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Try fruit, veg and carbs instead - as all are easier to digest.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
But they had something else to digest too—Micron’s earnings.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Investors will also continue to digest news of Andy Burnham’s recent victory in a U.K. special election which paves the way for him to mount a challenge to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
It took a moment to digest the fact that it was the sight of us.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
The property, which has striking glass walls, even earned itself a mention in Architectural Digest after Piven bought it.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026
They included Good Afternoon and Afternoon Plus, the latter of which featured among other things the first TV appearances by Dame Mary Berry, who was then cookery editor of Home and Freezer Digest.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
But the ones I found most interesting were finales I don’t remember encountering in Baseball Digest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Speaking to Architectural Digest in 2024, Grede and her spouse explained that they fell in love with the beachfront property as soon as they saw it.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 27, 2026
Her arrival in America is covered by nationwide news outlets, including Time, Reader’s Digest, and all the major daily newspapers of the time.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
As the market digests Big Tech’s ambitious artificial-intelligence spending plans for 2026, the relative cheapness of Microsoft’s stock underscores a new dichotomy in technology investing.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 9, 2026
The tepid outlook "indicates that earnings will likely remain stagnant or decline slightly as the company digests the Metsera deal and ramps up R&D," Briefing.com said in its note.
From Barron's ● Dec. 16, 2025
U.S. natural gas futures sink for a second straight session as the market digests a less drastic view of coming weather.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Lemon’s clipped-out conversations contain a few clues, especially about how Gen Z digests political information.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2024
The Word sucks up Cannery Row, digests it and spews it out, and the Row has taken the shimmer of the green world and the sky-reflecting seas.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
Major stock indexes fell Thursday as investors digested Alphabet and Tesla earnings.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
They are digested quickly and can produce sharp increases in blood sugar.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
U.S. natural gas futures inched higher as the market digested warmer weather patterns going into July.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
The IPO came, it was digested, and it went.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
Over a barely digested lunch, the three scientists realized that this intermediate molecule had to shuttle from the cell’s nucleus, where genes were stored, to the cytoplasm, where proteins were synthesized.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The reality, though, is that simply by eating and digesting protein, our bodies produce more heat than other food groups.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
There’s been a general trend of profit-taking, he said, as investors are digesting the magnitude and timing of returns on elevated artificial-intelligence spending.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who has been bullish on SpaceX stock, said the market is digesting “massive debt and equity raises from Big Tech players” in the coming years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
“Asset markets may be in for a tough second half digesting this supply.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
Rice and soy meal help when we can get them, to balance our amino acids and keep our muscle tissue from digesting itself in the process known picturesquely as kwashiorkor.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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.
