Consume

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /kənˈsjuːm/

Definitions

1. to use up a resource, eat or drink something, or be completely absorbed by a feeling or activity
2. to utilize resources, ingest food or beverages, or be wholly engrossed in emotions or tasks
3. to deplete materials, partake in meals or drinks, or become fully immersed in experiences or sentiments

Etymology: Consume began as a word about buying. Its Latin ancestor "cōnsūmere" combined "con-" ("together") with "sūmere," which came from "sub-" ("under") and "emere," meaning "to buy" or "to take." Put together, the image is of taking up or gathering in, and Latin already used the verb for destroying, spending and using up. The sense of "use up" grew out of that taking. Something taken in and gathered completely is no longer there, so the word moved from acquiring things toward exhausting them. The same movement lies behind the modern sense of eating or drinking, which the English word picked up later, as the idea of taking something in shifted from acquiring to absorbing. The root behind "emere" is ancient. It is reconstructed as "*h₁em-," meaning "to take, distribute," and it may be related to a root for taking one's due. English received the word through Old French "consumer" and entered Middle English as "consumen."

Synonyms: devour, ingest, utilize, expend, absorb

Antonyms: produce, create, generate, supply, offer