Consuming

How to spell consuming

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce consuming

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does consuming mean?

1. verbUsing something up, eating or drinking it, or steadily exhausting a resource.
2. adjectiveSo intense or absorbing that it takes over a person's time, energy, or attention.

Consuming in a sentence

• verb

  The old boiler is consuming far more gas than the new model.

• adjective

  His consuming ambition left little room for family life.

• verb

  The report shows the country is consuming less oil each year.

• adjective

  A consuming worry about the deadline kept her awake all night.

Where does consuming come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb consumere, which combined the intensifying prefix con-, here meaning 'completely', with sumere, meaning 'to take up' or 'to seize'. The literal sense was therefore 'to take up wholly', and from that came the ideas of using something up entirely, eating it, or wearing it away. English adopted the verb 'consume' in the late 1300s, largely by way of Old French, and the participle 'consuming' followed naturally. The same sumere root surfaces in relatives such as 'assume' (to take to oneself), 'presume', and 'resume', all of which carry that core idea of taking. Over time 'consuming' also broadened into a figurative adjective for a passion or worry so powerful that it takes over a person completely, as in an all-consuming interest.

How the word is built

• con- (completely, intensive)
• sume (from Latin sumere: to take up)
• -ing (present participle / adjective suffix)