devour
Americanverb (used with object)
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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
- devourer noun
- devouring adjective
- devouringly adverb
- devouringness noun
- interdevour verb (used with object)
- predevour verb (used with object)
- redevour verb (used with object)
- self-devouring adjective
- undevoured adjective
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”
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.
She knows the stress that devoured Ilia Malinin on Friday in Milan.
From Los Angeles Times
The oldest millennials—the nation’s biggest generation—are entering their mid-40s and devouring a torrent of new supplements, lotions, pills, gels, books and podcasts devoted to menopause relief.
They measure how much power is being devoured or generated at large data centers, manufacturers and power plants.
I devoured my cheeseburger and fries even faster than Andre, who is known for inhaling his food.
From Literature
Several of the Founding Fathers—and nearly everyone around them—devoured Laurence Sterne’s crazy quilt of a tale.
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.
