overconsume
Americanverb
Other Word Forms
Explanation
To overconsume is to use or eat too much of something. If you overconsume dark chocolate right before bed, you'll probably have a hard time falling asleep. To consume is to use, spend, or eat, from the Latin root consumere, "to use up or eat." Add over to that, and you've got a word for using (or eating) more than what's needed. A country might overconsume natural resources, leaving areas bare of trees or draining lakes to irrigate crops. And a person can overconsume by spending too much and going into debt — or they might just overconsume potato chips, giving themselves a stomach ache.
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:
The popularity of so-called underconsumption-core and no-buy trends prompts the question: Can creators who normally teach us to overconsume be the ones to help us break that cycle?
From Slate ● Feb. 15, 2025
"We just know that if we overconsume a certain amount of it that it might have possible risks," Sam said as she gutted salmon in the bustling kitchen.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2022
When we overconsume protein—whether it comes from lentils, supplements or steak—our body breaks the excess down into urea, a nitrogen-containing compound that exits the body via urine and ultimately ends up in sewage.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 27, 2022
A 200-300 calorie snack of protein and fiber helps stave off the hunger that will make you overconsume at dinner, when your metabolism is likely to be the most sluggish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2018
Each person at the table must make grand theater of his generosity of spirit, being careful not to overconsume the best dishes, and finishing off the duds because, you know, someone has to.
From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2018
Conversely, negative points are given to overconsumed nutrients like sugar, saturated fat and sodium, which are often added to processed foods.
From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2024
The word is “ultra-processed” and it refers to foods that tend to be low in essential nutrients, high in sugar, oil and salt and liable to be overconsumed.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 12, 2020
They will have nothing to say about the way Americans have overconsumed and overborrowed.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 11, 2011
The belief that Americans overconsumed and are now tightening their collective belts has, of course, some basis in fact.
From Time ● Dec. 28, 2010
We are overconsumed with predicting what will happen.
From Time Magazine Archive
It has become a popular phrase to describe overconsuming online posts and videos considered to be the opposite of mentally challenging.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2025
"Additionally, the very large spikes in dopamine that occur when overconsuming refined sugar leads to dopamine deficiency in the brain which can create 'withdrawal' type symptoms."
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2021
These practices include overconsuming protein and avoiding fats and carbohydrates.
From New York Times ● Jul. 27, 2020
This will assure that the customer, insulated from true costs, will behave irrationally, often overconsuming and abandoning the consumerist judgment he practices at the grocery store or while Internet shopping.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 6, 2018
“Salt taste receptors will ‘flip’ when you’ve had too much, but this doesn’t happen with sugar – so we have a built-in safety mechanism that protects us from overconsuming salt but not sugar,” he says.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 4, 2017
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.
