Meaning & use
consume
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Meanings
verbtransitiveformal
To eat or drink something.
Grammar: Takes an object: consume food.
Patterns
- consume something
Adults should consume less sugar.
The guests consumed the entire cake.
Do not consume the contents if the seal is broken.
verbtransitive
To use up a supply, such as fuel, energy, money or time.
Grammar: Takes an object, often a resource.
Patterns
- consume something
The old heater consumes a huge amount of electricity.
The project consumed most of our budget.
Meetings consume hours of the working week.
verbtransitiveliterary
To destroy something completely, especially by fire.
Grammar: Often passive: consumed by flames.
Patterns
- be consumed by something
Flames consumed the old barn in minutes.
The wildfire consumed thousands of acres.
The warehouse was consumed by fire overnight.
verbtransitivefigurative
To fill someone's mind or emotions completely, leaving little room for anything else.
Grammar: Usually passive with by or with: consumed by guilt.
Patterns
- be consumed by something
- be consumed with something
She was consumed by grief after the loss.
He was consumed with curiosity about the letter.
Jealousy consumed him for years.
verbtransitive
To buy and use goods and services as a customer, or to take in media such as news or video.
Grammar: Takes an object: consume media.
Patterns
- consume something
Young people consume most of their news on phones.
The country consumes more coffee than it grows.
Households consume goods at a rate that strains the planet.
Word forms
| third person singular | consumes |
|---|---|
| past tense | consumed |
| past participle | consumed |
| -ing form | consuming |
Common combinations
- consume energy
- Data centers consume enormous amounts of energy.
- consume alcohol
- Passengers may not consume alcohol on the bus.
- consume time
- Paperwork can consume time you would rather spend on real work.
- consumed by guilt
- He was consumed by guilt for weeks.
- consume media
- People consume media in many formats today.
- consumed by fire
- The cabin was consumed by fire.
Synonyms and how they differ
- eat
- Eat is the everyday word, and consume sounds more formal or clinical.
- use up
- Use up is informal and stresses finishing a supply, while consume can also describe steady use.
- devour
- Devour suggests eating hungrily, or destroying, and it is more vivid than consume.
- engulf
- Engulf describes surrounding and overwhelming, as flames or emotions do, but not eating.
Opposites
Word family
- consumer noun
- a person who buys or uses goods
- consumption noun
- the act or amount of consuming
- consumable adjective
- able to be eaten or used up
- consuming adjective
- taking up all your attention, as in a consuming passion
Commonly confused: consume or assume? consume or consummate?
consume vs assume
Assume means to suppose something is true, and it is unrelated to eating or using up.
consume vs consummate
Consummate means to complete a deal or marriage, or describes someone supremely skilled, which differs from consume.
Practice
The old refrigerator ____ far more electricity than the new model does.
Choose one answer.
Consumes means uses up a resource. Assumes, resumes and presumes sound similar but do not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “consume”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.