Meaning & use
consumption goods
Last updated
Meaning
nounpluraltechnical
Products that are bought and used by households and individuals to satisfy needs or wants, not to produce other products.
Grammar: Plural: consumption goods are, not a consumption goods.
Patterns
- consumption goods such as something
Food and clothing are consumption goods.
Demand for consumption goods fell during the recession.
The factory switched from machinery to consumption goods.
Common combinations
- durable consumption goods
- Cars are durable consumption goods.
- demand for consumption goods
- Demand for consumption goods rose in spring.
- produce consumption goods
- The country produces many consumption goods.
- tax on consumption goods
- The government raised a tax on consumption goods.
- non-durable consumption goods
- Bread is a non-durable consumption good.
Synonyms and how they differ
- consumer goods
- Consumer goods is the more common everyday phrase, whereas consumption goods is more academic.
- final goods
- Final goods are finished products ready for use, including some that businesses buy, so the group is wider.
- retail products
- Retail products stresses what is sold in shops, not how people use it.
Opposites
Word family
- consume verb
- to use up or eat
- consumer noun
- a person who buys goods and services
- consumption noun
- the using up of goods or resources
- goods noun
- items for sale
Commonly confused: consumption goods or capital goods?
consumption goods vs capital goods
Capital goods are machines and tools used to make other goods. Consumption goods are used directly by people.
Practice
Which of these is a consumption good?
Choose one answer.
Bread is bought for use by a household. The other items are capital goods that help make or move other goods.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “consumption goods”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.