subsume
Americanverb (used with object)
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to consider or include (an idea, term, proposition, etc.) as part of a more comprehensive one.
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to bring (a case, instance, etc.) under a rule.
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to take up into a more inclusive classification.
verb
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to incorporate (an idea, proposition, case, etc) under a comprehensive or inclusive classification or heading
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to consider (an instance of something) as part of a general rule or principle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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subsumesimple
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subsumessimple
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have subsumedperfect
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has subsumedperfect
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am subsumingprogressive
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are subsumingprogressive
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is subsumingprogressive
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have been subsumingperfect progressive
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has been subsumingperfect progressive
Past
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subsumedsimple
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had subsumedperfect
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was subsumingprogressive
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were subsumingprogressive
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had been subsumingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of subsume
First recorded in 1525–35; from Medieval Latin subsūmere, equivalent to Latin sub- “under, below, beneath”; + sūmere “to take”; see sub-, consume
Explanation
Subsume means to absorb or include. A successful company might subsume a failing competitor through a merger, or love may subsume you in the early stages of a romance. Subsume is a verb that comes from the Latin words sub, which means “from below,” and sumere, which means “take.” So subsume means “to take from below,” like a sneak attack by some kind of deep-sea creature. Sailors and scuba divers should beware of monsters from the blackest depths waiting to subsume them.
Vocabulary lists containing subsume
Latin Root "sub" Words
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Divergent
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The Boys in the Boat
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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.
Pro-skills policies here would need to expand worker capabilities for talents AI cannot subsume.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 31, 2026
It's a vital question at a time when artificial intelligence threatens to subsume Hollywood.
From Barron's • Oct. 31, 2025
Eventually, this observation takes on remarkable proportions as their lives subsume his own after he begins handling their public relations concerns.
From Salon • Oct. 25, 2024
The Omega Workshop didn’t identify individual textile or other designs by the artist’s name, preferring instead to subsume the work into the larger cultural ethos of the early modern era.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 22, 2023
Among the evolutional attempts to subsume the course of history under general syntheses, perhaps the most important is that of Lamprecht, whose "kulturhistorische" attempt to discover and assign the determining causes.
From Evolution in Modern Thought by Weismann, August
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.
