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
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
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"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:
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
Postsurgery, she began to devour several novels a week—but only about romance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
Tech is having a tough week, with fresh fears AI is going to devour software and now Alphabet’s eye-popping capital spending plans to absorb.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 5, 2026
When I see my girlfriend devour books faster than the popcorn she keeps within arm’s reach, I feel guilty — and envious.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2026
For breakfast, I devour the other PB&J from my backpack along with a can of peaches from Phil’s stash.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
"If you don't run from it and you try to face it, it devours you," Ecologio Cabrera, 86, told AFP after fleeing with nothing.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
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
Nantz eats a hot dog at halftime, too, but only devours those during the NFL season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2024
Homo ecophagus means the man who devours the ecosystem — and that's what we are doing.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2023
I mention it to no one, but it devours my waking hours and weaves itself throughout my nightmares.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
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
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
"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
To her amazement, close to 200 people came with more than 180 cakes devoured.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026
Either way, Maddy and Uncle Tony devoured them, Uncle Tony, of course, being silly, eating his with a fork and knife like it was something fancy.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
"Is it fair that our people are devouring each other?" lamented 71-year-old Maria Esther Bernal, who rented shops to Chinese merchants, all of which were looted.
From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026
Caligiuri now prefers devouring barbeque to polishing off opposing forwards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
“Steve’s pursuit of perfection was devouring the timeline,” Mr. Cain writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026
Now, Mobile Fortify’s widespread use by ICE has raised concerns among privacy advocates and some former officials, who argue the app is devouring huge amounts of personal information without adequate oversight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
Thomas’s stomach begged him to hurry; he picked up his sandwich and started devouring it.
From "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner
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.
