devours

Definition of devoursnext
present tense third-person singular of devour
1
2
3
as in inhales
to swallow or eat greedily the starving villagers simply devoured the relief food

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of devours From her experience, the grasshopper drawing attention in Arizona devours everything in its path, whereas the chapulín is tied to greener environments and specific crops, such as cornfields, alfalfa, and squash leaves. Nadia Cantú, AZCentral.com, 25 Mar. 2026 But May also routinely devours Tool, Nine Inch Nails, and jazz albums from Miles Davis. Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 26 Feb. 2026 But in Washington, politics devours everything, even the sacred. Tara Palmeri, Vanity Fair, 12 Jan. 2026 Gratitude requires perspective, but perpetual outrage devours perspective. MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2025 Without virtue, liberty collapses into chaos, and freedom devours itself. Carolyn McKinney, Boston Herald, 22 Sep. 2025 Every revolution devours its children. Sam Knight, New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2025 And Sacks, a PayPal Mafia member and veteran Silicon Valley investor, is just the sort of titan of industry this town routinely devours and humiliates — from Rex Tillerson to, well, Elon Musk. Ben Smith, semafor.com, 8 Sep. 2025 Even as the gyre devours the sun. Alaa Alqaisi august 13, Literary Hub, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for devours
Verb
  • About 20% of the oil that the world consumes every day travels via the Strait of Hormuz, which runs along part of Iran’s coast.
    Freddie Clayton, NBC news, 21 Mar. 2026
  • South Pars accounts for about 70% of the gas Iran consumes, Ira Joseph, a senior research associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, told ABC News.
    Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 20 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Marty is self-absorbed, forgetful, doesn’t much like people and spends hours online looking for advice about how to be a handyman.
    Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 28 Mar. 2026
  • The first two will be built in Finland while the company spends between $700 million to $1 billion to renovate the shipyards in the ports of Galveston and Port Arthur, Texas.
    Lori Ann LaRocco, CNBC, 28 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Board member Nicole Gribstad also urged the committee to include an option that delays such a decision and exhausts all other financial alternatives before closing schools.
    Molly Gibbs, Mercury News, 11 Feb. 2026
  • But freedom of expression is a constant pursuit, as natural as breathing, and silencing it is an imperfect practice that exhausts the oppressor and energizes the oppressed.
    David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 28 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • What's more, while virtually all VTOLs being developed these days are electric, the Janus-1 is powered by a turboshaft engine that gulps n' burns diesel, kerosene or Jet A fuel.
    Ben Coxworth October 21, New Atlas, 21 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • What Sacks doesn’t get is that by financing and diplomatically supporting Israel, our country makes the crimes of the Israeli government possible, which stains America’s reputation in the world and drains our Treasury.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 27 Mar. 2026
  • Years of use as a makeshift neighborhood have degraded the forest and contributed to pollution in Coyote Creek, which drains into San Francisco Bay, city leaders say.
    Grant Stringer, Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Director Allan Deberton crams much story and characterization in those opening frames.
    Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 24 Feb. 2026
  • Instead, the show crams everything into a space that can't hold it, culminating in this past third season that exploded with too much of practically everything.
    Matthew Razak, Space.com, 4 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • But the darker open ocean absorbs those rays, raising temperatures and driving further ice melt.
    Andrea Thompson, Scientific American, 26 Mar. 2026
  • Then there’s density (how many strands per square inch) and porosity (how readily hair absorbs moisture).
    Allison Palmer, Miami Herald, 26 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • When Dunk proposes to Prince Maekar that maybe the Seven spared him for some future purpose, Maekar scoffs.
    Noel Murray, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2026
  • The mysterious Egg scoffs at Dunk’s rope belt but offers to be his squire.
    Sarah Larson, New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Devours.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/devours. Accessed 29 Mar. 2026.

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