devour

verb

de·vour | \ di-ˈvau̇(-ə)r

, dē-\

devoured; devouring; devours

Definition of devour

transitive verb

1 : to eat up greedily or ravenously devoured the turkey and mashed potatoes

2 : to use up or destroy as if by eating We are devouring the world's resources.

3 : to prey upon devoured by guilt

4 : to enjoy avidly devours books

Other Words from devour Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about devour

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Examples of devour in a Sentence

He devoured everything on his plate. The lions devoured their prey. She devoured every golf magazine she could find. He watched intently, devouring the scene before him with his eyes.

Recent Examples on the Web

That money belongs to retirees, but such small balances can easily be devoured by fees or lost track of by their owners. — Jason Zweig, WSJ, "Forget the 401(k). Let’s Invent a New Retirement Plan.," 10 Feb. 2019 Gone are the days when being devoured felt desirable. — Reema Zaman, Vogue, "The Woman I Would Have Been Had I Let Myself Love You," 13 Feb. 2019 Wide-eyed Coco (Natalia Dyer) and bitter Bryson (Billy Magnussen) remain on the peripheral, watching the art world devour itself and trying in vain to find their entry point while remaining unscathed. — Candice Frederick, Harper's BAZAAR, "Netflix's Velvet Buzzsaw Shouldn't Work—But It (Mostly) Does," 3 Feb. 2019 An ordinary colony of 75 bats can devour up to 75,000 insects in a single hour—talk about organic pest control! — Emily O'brien, Good Housekeeping, "5 Ways To Attract Bats To Your Yard," 20 Oct. 2016 First discovered in 1799, the invasive species was the bane of seamen everywhere because of their tendency to devour wood. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "The Gribble Worm Could Hold Secrets for Cheaper Renewable Energy," 5 Dec. 2018 The ant queen has been eating humans and producing human-sized ants that then go out and collect more humans to devour. — Verge Staff, The Verge, "Smart scares for smart people," 31 Oct. 2018 Another features the family seated at a picnic table covered with brown paper and disposable cups, staring at the camera while leaning toward a pile of soon-to-be devoured crabs. — Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Washington Post, "‘All gone in the blink of an eye’: Woman survives crash that killed her husband and 4 daughters," 8 July 2018 Her film Bao is showing before Pixar’s blockbuster Incredibles 2 and explores the impulse to devour cute things. — Claire Zillman, Fortune, "Kirstjen Nielsen and Ivanka Trump on Border Separations, Katrina Lake's Pregnancy: Broadsheet June 19," 19 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'devour.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.