to convert (food) in the alimentary canal into absorbable form for assimilation into the system.
to promote the digestion of (food).
to obtain information, ideas, or principles from; assimilate mentally.
to digest a pamphlet on nuclear waste.
to arrange methodically in the mind; think over.
to digest a plan.
to bear with patience; endure.
to arrange in convenient or methodical order; reduce to a system; classify.
to condense, abridge, or summarize.
Chemistry. to soften or disintegrate (a substance) by means of moisture, heat, chemical action, or the like.
to digest food.
to undergo digestion, as food.
a collection or compendium, usually of literary, historical, legal, or scientific matter, especially when classified or condensed.
Law.
a systematic abstract of some body of law.
the Digest, a collection in fifty books of excerpts, especially from the writings of the Classical Roman jurists, compiled by order of Justinian in the 6th century a.d.; the Pandects.
Biochemistry. the product of the action of an enzyme on food or other organic material.
to subject (food) to a process of digestion
(tr) to assimilate mentally
chem to soften or disintegrate or be softened or disintegrated by the action of heat, moisture, or chemicals; decompose
(tr) to arrange in a methodical or systematic order; classify
(tr) to reduce to a summary
archaic (tr) to tolerate
a comprehensive and systematic compilation of information or material, often condensed
a magazine, periodical, etc, that summarizes news of current events
a compilation of rules of law based on decided cases
What does inventory mean? An inventory is a complete list of all merchandise or stock of items owned by or available from a business. At a store, an inventory is the complete list of all items for sale at the store. At a manufacturer, an inventory is a complete list of all the raw materials they have, as well as finished items and items being created. An inventory is also the specific set of products to sell, as in The store’s inventory of superhero capes is running low and will probably sell out soon. An inventory can also refer to figurative belongings, such as a person’s personality traits and skills. To inventory means to add things to an inventory list, whether a literal or figurative list, as in I inventoried my options for colleges and chose the school I’ll attend next year. Example: Can you take inventory tonight so we can be ready for the rush tomorrow?
See summary.
First recorded in 1350–1400; (verb) Middle English digesten, from Latin dīgestus “separated, dissolved” (past participle of dīgerere ), equivalent to dī- di- 2 + ges- “carry, bear” (base of gerere ) + -tus past participle suffix; (noun) Middle English: “collection of laws,” from Late Latin dīgesta (plural), Latin: “collection of writings,” neuter plural of dīgestus, as above
When your stomach breaks down food, it digests it. To digest is to process food so it can be absorbed into the body or information so the mind can absorb it. If you tell your mother some bad news, like say, that you failed your math test after studying so hard, she might say, "Let me take a moment to digest that information." She's not going to swallow the paper and let her stomach do the work. Instead, she's going to take a moment to sit with the news and understand it. As a noun, a digest is a magazine that breaks down information into understandable summaries.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"I don't know what is going on right now. It will take time to digest it."
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
But they had something else to digest too—Micron’s earnings.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
That level of presence is possible now—and wasn’t in the past—because she knows her AI transcription and note-taking tool is capturing every nuance of the interaction, and her insurance-filing tool will digest it into claims.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
The entertainment industry has offered a palatable way for viewers to digest the horrors of the institution, without confronting either its banality or its larger implications.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026
A diet based on cereals is poor in minerals and vitamins, hard to digest, and really bad for your teeth and gums.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Asked to comment on the allegations, which were first reported in Golf Digest, BBC Sport received a statement from the club.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
He named it Avalon after the storybook world of King Arthur, he told Architectural Digest in 2004.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Speaking to Architectural Digest in 2024, Grede and her spouse explained that they fell in love with the beachfront property as soon as they saw it.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 27, 2026
“I knew there were going to be a lot of headwinds,” he told the Australian Golf Digest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
“Your home is so lovely,” said Grace’s mother, who read Architectural Digest the way—well, Grace had never met anyone who consumed anything the way her mom read Architectural Digest.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
As the market digests Big Tech’s ambitious artificial-intelligence spending plans for 2026, the relative cheapness of Microsoft’s stock underscores a new dichotomy in technology investing.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 9, 2026
As the market digests another AI scare, we would suggest staying out of the fight.
From Barron's ● Feb. 5, 2026
U.S. natural gas futures sink for a second straight session as the market digests a less drastic view of coming weather.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Meaning "big eater" in Greek, this immune cell consumes and digests problematic elements from microbes and cancer cells to dust and debris.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 8, 2024
The Word sucks up Cannery Row, digests it and spews it out, and the Row has taken the shimmer of the green world and the sky-reflecting seas.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
The IPO came, it was digested, and it went.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
Beyond the geopolitical noise, the oil market is resilient and has digested the supply shock well for now, says Norbert Rucker, head of economics and next generation research.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
The documents are still being digested across Westminster.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
Ms. Hochul has clearly digested that an estimated $5 billion could be raised from New Yorkers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Two golden eyebrows furrowed into one as Lady Constance digested the contents of the letter.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
The reality, though, is that simply by eating and digesting protein, our bodies produce more heat than other food groups.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
There’s been a general trend of profit-taking, he said, as investors are digesting the magnitude and timing of returns on elevated artificial-intelligence spending.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who has been bullish on SpaceX stock, said the market is digesting “massive debt and equity raises from Big Tech players” in the coming years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
“Every day there’s more data, and we’re digesting it and processing it faster,” says Adam Canady, a Jane Street engineer who works on machine learning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
Harry was too busy digesting the horrible idea of Inferi to have much attention left for anything else, but as they reached the front gate, Dumbledore stopped dead and Harry walked into him.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
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.
