consume
Americanverb (used with object)
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consumes,
present (3rd person singular)
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consumed,
past participle, past
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consuming
present participle
verb (used without object)
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consumes,
present (3rd person singular)
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consumed,
past participle, past
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consuming
present participle
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to undergo destruction; waste away.
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to use or use up consumer goods.
verb
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(tr) to eat or drink
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(tr; often passive) to engross or obsess
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(tr) to use up; expend
my car consumes little oil
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to destroy or be destroyed by burning, decomposition, etc
fire consumed the forest
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(tr) to waste or squander
the time consumed on that project was excessive
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(passive) to waste away
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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overconsumeverb
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preconsumeverb (used with object)
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underconsumeverb (used with object)
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consumingadjective
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half-consumedadjective
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unconsumedadjective
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consuminglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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consumesimple
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consumessimple
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have consumedperfect
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has consumedperfect
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am consumingprogressive
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are consumingprogressive
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is consumingprogressive
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have been consumingperfect progressive
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has been consumingperfect progressive
Past
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consumedsimple
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had consumedperfect
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was consumingprogressive
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were consumingprogressive
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had been consumingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of consume
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French consumer, from Latin consūmere, from con- con- + sūmere “to take up” (equivalent to subs-, variant of sub- sub- + emere “to take, buy”; cf. emptor ( def. ))
Explanation
"The Freshman 15" describes freshman-year college students who gain about fifteen pounds because they consume way too much lousy dorm food all day long. To consume a cake is to eat it, the idea being that you ate the whole thing. To say a fire consumed a building is to say that the entire building was destroyed. Consume means to devour, to take in, to use up. The Unites States is often referred to as a consumer society because our economy is based on things being consumed. Whether it's gas, clothes, burgers, music, or anything that we use up as we purchase it, it's something that we consume. If we consume all the oil, there will be none left to burn.
Vocabulary lists containing consume
Eat Your Words
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"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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Number the Stars
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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:
Rather than relying heavily on one type of prey, they will consume almost anything they can catch underwater.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
Before testing the first atom bomb, the Los Alamos crew asked Hans Bethe to confirm with math that it wouldn’t start a chain reaction and consume the atmosphere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
These gas-rich environments trap radiation and allow the black holes to consume material much more efficiently than black holes can in the modern Universe.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
It is not clear how much energy AI systems use, but some researchers estimate the industry as a whole could soon consume as much as the Netherlands.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
My work was interesting and rewarding, but still I had to be careful not to let it consume me.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
As former Goldman Sachs commodity strategist Jeff Currie pointed out a month ago, “Nobody on planet earth consumes crude oil. Refineries do. Everyone else consumes gasoline and diesel.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
In the United States, that hidden water use can be twice the amount a data center consumes on its own.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
To deal with the water shortages along the Colorado River, others have suggested policies that encourage farmers to grow less hay — which consumes nearly half of the water diverted from the river.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
Instead of reducing the amount of energy a person consumes, their approach is designed to increase the amount of energy the body uses by raising metabolic activity.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
“But only if it consumes peculiars. It can eat as many normals as it likes and it will never turn into a wight. Therefore, we must have something normals lack.”
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
China’s car industry has consumed market share from traditional automakers around the world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
The maneuver was completed with more than 99% accuracy and consumed less than 10% of the fuel reserved for it.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Last year, Irish data centres consumed 23% of the country's electricity and the demand for energy has pushed up the price for consumers.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
One study found that people who consumed at least one serving of skim or low-fat milk each day had a 19% increased risk of prostate cancer compared with those who rarely drank it.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
As quickly as it’d come, it slithered into the jungle’s depths, consumed in the darkness.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
“The gas market is pulling back partially in sympathy with lower oil prices and continued mild temperature forecasts across key consuming regions,” Ritterbusch & Associates says in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Quasars are exceptionally bright cosmic objects powered by supermassive black holes that are actively consuming gas.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
A disaster management agency official said over the weekend that 12 people had been infected with the disease after consuming dead wildlife in the Munyamadzi River area.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
“You see a lot of people consuming the minimum, what they need to get by through the week,” said owner Carina Murillo, 31, as she checked out customers on a recent weekday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
It burned, consuming the body of Balder and the body of Nanna, and his horse, and his possessions.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
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.