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)
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consumed,
past participle, past
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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
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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
Eat Your Words
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"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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Number the Stars
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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:
Before testing the first atom bomb, the Los Alamos crew asked Hans Bethe to confirm with math that it wouldn’t start a chain reaction and consume the atmosphere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
But the way people consume media has changed—some now wait until an entire series is released to binge it at once.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
"Our work suggests that the trace amounts of sucralose-6-acetate in a single, daily sucralose-sweetened drink exceed that threshold. And that's not even accounting for the amount of sucralose-6-acetate produced as metabolites after people consume sucralose."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
The official urged the public not to consume meat from animals that die naturally or from unknown causes, while urging the public to report any such cases.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
“How long ago did she consume the fruit?”
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
As former Goldman Sachs commodity strategist Jeff Currie pointed out a month ago, “Nobody on planet earth consumes crude oil. Refineries do. Everyone else consumes gasoline and diesel.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
In the United States, that hidden water use can be twice the amount a data center consumes on its own.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
To deal with the water shortages along the Colorado River, others have suggested policies that encourage farmers to grow less hay — which consumes nearly half of the water diverted from the river.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
Each attempt consumes expensive material, requires specialized equipment, and takes considerable human effort.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
How a four horse team whipped into a run on a straightaway consumes the road, surging and surging over it!
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
China’s car industry has consumed market share from traditional automakers around the world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Over time, those aromas can become signals that lead the brain and body to anticipate what normally happens after food is consumed.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
Currently the water consumed by existing data centres is relatively low.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Opposition lawmaker Ezio Angelini says Venezuela produced 20,000 megawatts a day and consumed just 12,000 before longtime leader Hugo Chavez took power in 1999.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
Many objects exist to be exchanged and consumed: sacks of grain, for example, are turned into bread.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Another large-scale outbreak was reported in 2011, with more than 500 cases, when five people died after consuming meat from infected hippos.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Just 20% of respondents knew that consuming milk and other dairy products can increase the risk of prostate cancer.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
“You see a lot of people consuming the minimum, what they need to get by through the week,” said owner Carina Murillo, 31, as she checked out customers on a recent weekday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
The model is only scaffolding, which, after consuming vast amounts of training data and running trillions of permutations, arrives at an outcome that can’t be known beforehand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
It’s an odd choice for breakfast, but she points out it has a high liquid content, so consuming it is killing two birds with one stone.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
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.
