Word of the Day

: March 24, 2016

consummate

adjective KAHN-suh-mut

What It Means

1 : complete in every detail : perfect

2 : extremely skilled and accomplished

3 : of the highest degree

consummate in Context

Always the consummate professional, Erika has testimonials from dozens of satisfied clients on her website.

"[Daniel] Bryan, 34, loved professional wrestling, and Miami is where the consummate wrestler became a top notch WWE superstar." — Jim Varsallone, The Miami Herald, 9 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Consummate, which derives from the Latin verb consummare (meaning "to sum up" or "to finish"), has been used as an adjective in English since the 15th century. Some usage commentators feel the word is overused and others think it should be limited to the "perfect" sense (as in "a consummate little model of a clipper ship"), but neither of those positions is more than an opinion. All of the senses of the word are well-established and have served careful writers well for many, many years.