consumption

noun

con·​sump·​tion kən-ˈsəm(p)-shən 

1

a

: the act or process of consuming

consumption of food

consumption of resources

b

: use by or exposure to a particular group or audience

The document was not intended for public consumption.

2

: use of something

the jet's high consumption of fuel

the consumption of electricity

3

a

: tuberculosis

b

: a progressive wasting away of the body especially from pulmonary tuberculosis

Examples of consumption in a Sentence

The jet's high fuel consumption makes it expensive to operate.

Recent Examples on the Web

The complaint alleges the defendants failed to manufacture, supply and serve food safe for human consumption and violated federal food safety laws and USDA performance standards governing ground beef. —Andrea Flores, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2026

On the other hand, when prices are high and rising, voters may not particularly care about things like Talarico's meat consumption, says Cliff Walker, who works at a Texas progressive strategy firm. —Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR, 30 May 2026

VATs are the most common type of consumption tax in the world, used by more than 170 countries worldwide. —Greg Iacurci, CNBC, 30 May 2026

Goldman Sachs forecasts a 24-fold increase in token consumption by 2030, reaching 120 quadrillion tokens per month, as agentic AI systems replace single-prompt interactions with multi-step tasks that consume orders of magnitude more compute per query. —Rakesh Kumar, Fortune, 30 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English consumpcioun, from Latin consumption-, consumptio, from consumere — see consume

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing consumption

• conspicuous consumption

Rhymes for consumption

• assumption
• presumption
• resumption
• subsumption
• gumption
• sumption

Kids Definition

consumption

noun

con·​sump·​tion kən-ˈsəm(p)-shən 

1

a

: the act or process of consuming

b

: the amount consumed

2

a

: a gradual and continuous wasting away of the body especially from tuberculosis of the lungs

b

: tuberculosis

Medical Definition

consumption

noun

con·​sump·​tion kən-ˈsəm(p)-shən 

1

: a progressive wasting away of the body especially from pulmonary tuberculosis

2

: tuberculosis