devour
Americanverb (used with object)
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devours,
present (3rd person singular)
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devoured,
past participle, past
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devouring
present participle
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to swallow or eat up hungrily, voraciously, or ravenously.
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to consume destructively, recklessly, or wantonly.
Fire devoured the old museum.
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to engulf or swallow up.
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to take in greedily with the senses or intellect.
to devour the works of Freud.
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to absorb or engross wholly.
a mind devoured by fears.
verb
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to swallow or eat up greedily or voraciously
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to waste or destroy; consume
the flames devoured the curtains
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to consume greedily or avidly with the senses or mind
he devoured the manuscripts
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to engulf or absorb
the flood devoured the land
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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devourernoun
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devouringnessnoun
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interdevourverb (used with object)
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predevourverb (used with object)
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redevourverb (used with object)
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devouringadjective
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self-devouringadjective
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undevouredadjective
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devouringlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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devoursimple
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devourssimple
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have devouredperfect
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has devouredperfect
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am devouringprogressive
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are devouringprogressive
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is devouringprogressive
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have been devouringperfect progressive
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has been devouringperfect progressive
Past
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devouredsimple
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had devouredperfect
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was devouringprogressive
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were devouringprogressive
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had been devouringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of devour
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English devouren, from Anglo-French, Old French devourer, from Latin dēvorāre “to swallow down,” from dē- de- + vorāre “to eat up”
Explanation
When you've gone all day without eating anything, you'll probably devour your dinner, especially if it's your very favorite homemade lasagna. Devour means to eat greedily and hungrily. The meaning of devour has grown to include the consumption of things other than food. If you sit down to start a book and look up ten hours later having turned the last page, you have devoured that book. If your after school job devours all your free time, chances are your grades are going to drop. The Latin root, devorare, means "to swallow down."
Vocabulary lists containing devour
Eat Your Words
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!
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 7–11
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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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:
One court warned that public nuisance would become “a monster that would devour in one gulp the entire law of tort.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
For him and his family, this is a rare chance to devour durians "of good quality, and sometimes at nearly half the price of previous seasons".
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
The series had a successful reboot as Gen Z viewers continue to devour vintage programs.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2026
A data center for AI training can devour as much electricity as 1,000 Walmart stores, while an AI search can use 10 times the amount of energy as a google search.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
“Something huge. It had scales. They felt like steel. Then it dove deep, and launched itself toward the surface. I could feel its hunger. It wanted to devour me.”
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
In India's tech capital Bengaluru, the morning "rush hour" lasts so long it devours half the workday, throttling productivity in a city often viewed as the poster child of a booming economy.
From Barron's ● Nov. 27, 2025
That hot, hard rock devours conventional drill bits and makes a hash of the concrete usually poured deep underground around the steel pipes required to line such a well and keep it from collapsing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
In Screen Gab No. 142, the actor behind Alyn of Hull stops by to discuss ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2, our editor devours ‘Presumed Innocent’ and more.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2024
With each strike, he devours the essence of liberty and justice, leaving behind a trail of desolation and despair.
From Salon ● May 8, 2024
Not the flickery stuff I wore last year in the chariot, but something much more real that devours my dress.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
The fires devoured forests left tinder-dry by successive heatwaves and lack of rain since May.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
The raven and a “silent partner” then snatched the helpless goslings and devoured them—a machination to make Poe proud.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
It arrived at the peak of unscripted television’s popularity — a period when audiences devoured shows like “Survivor” and “American Idol” at their regularly scheduled times on television.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026
"We have tentatively suggested that the long palps might allow the male to keep a safer distance during mating and help him avoid being attacked and devoured by the highly aggressive female."
From Science Daily ● Apr. 6, 2026
Perseus found, as Hercules was later to find, that a lovely maiden had been given up to be devoured by a horrible sea serpent.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Scavenger animals such as possums, red foxes and crows can be exposed to the virus while devouring the carcasses of infected birds.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
Strong winds and a tinder-dry landscape meant that the fire advanced at frightening speed, devouring large amounts of territory in very little time.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
It’s only people like Ruth, who thanklessly work to allay that suffering even in the smallest ways, that keep the darkness from devouring us whole.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026
Caligiuri now prefers devouring barbeque to polishing off opposing forwards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
Others plod methodically along a stem, plucking off and devouring sedentary insects like the aphids.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
