to consume

Examples

• All

• Within weeks, the T-virus had consumed the United States.

  Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

• A fireball rolled in their direction, instantly consuming the blond man who stood in its path.

  Fiction book (1992)

• That war consumes everything like a horrible fire.

• Your world will be consumed by The Devourer.

  The Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025)

• Ten minutes later, they would be consumed in an inferno, transformed instantly into the stuff of history.

  Academic text (1991)

• The largest fire in the city consumed the wealthy Fasanenstrasse Synagogue near the zoo railway station.

  Fiction book (1991)

• Fanned by a northeaster, the flames quickly consumed the church and jumped to the boardinghouse.

  Academic text (1994)

• But in 1999, it burned in the Donnelly Flats wildfire, a blaze that consumed 18,000 acres of forest.

  Academic text (2001)

• The wildfire rapidly consumed the forest, leaving nothing but ashes in its wake.

• As the building burned, the flames consumed everything inside within minutes.

Synonyms

E

to eat

vsto consume

508 6.6

Gradually use up money or fuel

implies total destruction often from fire disease or a sudden force

D

to devour

vsto consume

92 3.9

To destroy or use up things quickly, for example when fire burns a building

focuses on destruction as a total result often caused by force disease

E

to eat at

vsto consume

• Informal

47 7.1

Gradually make someone feel worse or less confident

describes total physical destruction often due to fire disease or other force

E

to eat up

vsto consume

• Informal

31 3.1

Use up money or time quickly

usually denotes complete destruction by force disease or other causes

L

to lay waste to

vsto consume

11 7.9

To destroy a place and leave it ruined

applies to total destruction in general not only to places

W

to waste

vsto consume

5 4.7

To destroy a place completely, leaving only ruins

emphasizes complete devastation often occurring through fire disease or force

E

to eat away

vsto consume

1 4.5

Slowly wears away rock and soil by wind or water

refers to complete devastation usually from fire disease or violent force

Antonyms

C

to create

∞ 1.0

To make something new that does not exist yet

P

to preserve

504 3.4

To keep people and things safe from harm or change

How Damaged

to obliterate

67 7.5

to consume

59 6.0

to ruin

∞ 2.0

to damage

323 1.4

Surface Forms

Etymology