To consume means to use something up completely, especially by eating, drinking, or burning it. When you consume a sandwich, you eat it until it's gone. When a car consumes gasoline, it burns the fuel to power the engine. A fire consumes wood as it burns.

The word often implies that whatever is being consumed gets used up and can't be recovered. When you consume your allowance on video games, that money is spent and gone. When a book consumes your attention for hours, it takes up all your focus and time.

In economics and everyday life, people talk about consumers and consumption. A consumer is someone who buys and uses products: you're a consumer when you purchase school supplies or download an app. Businesses study consumer behavior to understand what people want to buy.

The word can also describe something that takes over completely. A consuming passion means you think about it constantly: if skateboarding becomes a consuming interest, you practice every day, watch videos about tricks, and talk about it with anyone who'll listen. When anger or jealousy consumes someone, those feelings take over their thoughts and actions, leaving little room for anything else to matter.