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:
"For the freshwater consumed by non-cooling facility needs, Google is committed to replenishing 120 percent of the volume we consume across our operations by 2030," he added.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
Another major supplier of seafood to the U.S. is India, which produces roughly a third of the shrimp that Americans consume, almost all of it grown with fishmeal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
“I really don’t have time for this to consume my life anymore,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Americans consume about 3.6 million barrels of that.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Whereas a vole can consume about 200 cocoons a day, a shrew, depend ing on the species, may devour up to 800!
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
The Gulf Coast produces far more diesel than it consumes and accounted for roughly 90% of U.S. distillate exports last year, while the East and West coasts rely in part on imports.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
“Nobody consumes crude oil,” but rather the fuels that come from it, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 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
"Usually, it takes more power to store more information. Our device, however, consumes 100 times less power and the storage capacity is higher than traditional storage devices, like flash drives."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 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
For Davis, the jitters so consumed her Sundays that she bought a $30 hourglass to rein them in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
As recently as the 2000s, we still sought out lots of the culture we consumed.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
The first came from ten controlled dietary trials in which participants consumed dairy foods containing naturally enhanced levels of trans fats and were compared with people consuming regular dairy products.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
Top delegates to the Pacific talks will hold a one-day retreat on low-lying Tuvalu, a small island nation laying plans to relocate the population if it is consumed by the ocean.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
She had just copied them with great care, and had destroyed the old manuscript, so that Amy’s bonfire had consumed the loving work of several years.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Such symptoms include gas, abdominal pain, bloating, and diarrhea or nausea, after consuming a certain amount of dairy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Symptoms usually develop within 30 minutes to two hours of consuming lactose and can last from five to 10 minutes up to a few hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
The researchers discovered that blocking glucagon signaling alone did not eliminate the blood sugar lowering effect of consuming olive oil before glucose.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
No. 1, Whitson advises, is ensuring you’re consuming enough carbohydrates—and doing so every few hours.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026
I work on consuming my hot turkey sandwich.
From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick
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.
