consummate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to bring to a state of perfection; fulfill.
- Synonyms:
- achieve, accomplish, finish, perfect, complete
-
to complete (an arrangement, agreement, or the like) by a pledge or the signing of a contract.
The company consummated its deal to buy a smaller firm.
-
to complete (the union of a marriage) by the first marital sexual intercourse.
adjective
-
complete or perfect; supremely skilled; superb.
a consummate master of the violin.
- Antonyms:
- unfinished, imperfect
-
being of the highest or most extreme degree.
a work of consummate skill; an act of consummate savagery.
verb
-
to bring to completion or perfection; fulfil
-
to complete (a marriage) legally by sexual intercourse
adjective
-
accomplished or supremely skilled
a consummate artist
-
(prenominal) (intensifier)
a consummate fool
Other Word Forms
- consummately adverb
- consummation noun
- consummative adjective
- consummator noun
- consummatory adjective
- half-consummated adjective
- unconsummate adjective
- unconsummated adjective
- unconsummately adverb
- unconsummative adjective
Etymology
Origin of consummate
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English (adjective), from Latin consummātus “completed,” past participle of consummāre “to complete, bring to perfection,” from con- con- + summ(a) sum + -āre, infinitive verb suffix
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.
The captains of such ships were the rock stars of their day, consummate seamen who risked their lives on the open oceans for wealth and fame.
Would this consummate journeyman ever have imagined that she’d be starring in feature films and a Broadway play in her 90s?
From Los Angeles Times
Fred Allen, the consummate radio comedian, called television a “medium,” to which he added that nothing about it is “well-done.”
Often called the consummate “self-made man,” Franklin wrote his autobiography in four parts over 19 years.
Odysseus is the flawed hero, a consummate liar and a less-than-stellar leader who cannot safeguard the “homecomings of his companions.”
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.
