- present participle of consume.
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.
New dietary guidelines rolled out last year by Kennedy and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for the first time recommended consuming fermented foods such as sauerkraut.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 18, 2026
Suddenly, the feeling of being trapped is completely consuming.
From Salon • Jun. 15, 2026
The center found that preschool children struggle to learn as much from content with frequent cuts, though consuming it doesn’t impact their attention span negatively, Uhls said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2026
And the world is also making do with less oil — Asian countries, particularly China, curbed energy imports and are consuming less.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 9, 2026
He glanced toward the kitchen, which the flames were consuming with glee, and headed across the living room toward Angel’s bedroom.
From "Forged by Fire" by Sharon M. Draper
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.
