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:
Utopia exists between the care and the kisses and the how you doin’s, it becomes flesh and bone in the embrace of full body hugs and smiles so wide they could devour the sun.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 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
In this whirlwind of a year, amid the tariffs of Liberation Day and other Supreme Court arguments, I carved out a precious block of time to devour Akhil Reed Amar’s latest masterpiece, “Born Equal.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
They diligently tune in to earnings calls and company filings, and devour every piece of content featuring Chief Executive Alex Karp.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 25, 2025
She must travel in it easily or her own heart would devour her and she would not endure the war unwounded, as she still hoped to do.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
He doesn’t watch television or movies but he devours business podcasts and personal stories of entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2026
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 the show, rare glimpses of his inner turmoil come when he devours a lemon tart or a chocolate bar with a pleasureless intensity.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
As dangerous as the Chimaera, and as rare, the Manticore is reputed to croon softly as it devours its prey.
From "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by J.K. Rowling
He studied physics and philosophy at the University of Oxford, where he met his wife, devoured Einstein’s original papers and investigated parallel universes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Some 10,500 people were being evacuated from their homes near the city of Perpignan in southwestern France as firefighters tried to control a blaze that has devoured 1,650 hectares, authorities said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 5, 2026
"Books devoured me, they ate me," she said.
From BBC ● May 29, 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
After she had devoured it all, Mater Lumley produced a thick slice of Black Forest cake from the bakery next door.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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
“Steve’s pursuit of perfection was devouring the timeline,” Mr. Cain writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026
Then they broke out into the sunlight and for a while they were busy finding and devouring rood as they moved down the scar toward the platform and the meeting.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
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.
