subsumption

noun

sub·​sump·​tion səb-ˈsəm(p)-shən How to pronounce subsumption (audio)
: the act or process of subsuming

Examples of subsumption in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web This is due to the analogous use of subsumption in human behavior: human psychomotor behavior can be intuitively modeled as layered behaviors with incoming sensory inputs, where higher behavioral levels are able to subsume lower behaviors. IEEE Spectrum, 2 Nov. 2020 Where the fungal era has been about venerating unknowable nonhuman maybe-intelligence and believing that hope can be dredged from ruin, the metabolic era is about submission, subsumption by the great enzyme, the desire for transformative annihilation. Kelly Pendergrast, WIRED, 14 July 2023 Not unlike visionaries and mystics, martyrs and saints, the narrator finds a path to liberation through self-erasure or subsumption in sublime experience. Saidiya Hartman, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2023 Buffalo Boy is both a lampooning and subsumption of the cowboy myth, recalibrating frontier notions of manhood. New York Times, 17 Feb. 2022 Such a prospect—that relation will tip over into identity, and then subsumption—sends shock waves of pleasure and terror through much of Bechdel’s work. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 3 May 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'subsumption.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

New Latin subsumption-, subsumptio, from subsumere

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of subsumption was in 1652

Dictionary Entries Near subsumption

Cite this Entry

“Subsumption.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subsumption. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.

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