ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Consume

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Pronunciation /kənˈsjuːm/ · Part of speech verb

Quick meaning: Consume is a verb meaning (transitive) To use up.

Meaning

(transitive) To use up.

More Meanings

  1. (transitive) To eat.
  2. (transitive) To completely occupy the thoughts or attention of.
  3. (transitive) To destroy completely.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To waste away slowly.
  5. (economics, transitive, intransitive) To trade money for good or services as an individual.
  6. (transitive) To absorb information, especially through the mass media.

Example Sentences

Desire consumed him.
The building was consumed by fire.
The power plant consumes 30 tons of coal per hour.
Baby birds consume their own weight in food each day.

Word Forms

Synonyms for consume

Depending on context, synonyms include burn, use, expend, devour, eat, swallow.

Antonyms for consume

Common opposites include refrain, abstain, desist.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include devour, eat, ingest, exhaust, deplete, waste.

Related Dictionary Tools

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.