consumption - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

Consumption means using, buying or eating something. If we don't reduce our energy consumption, we will run out of fuel. Conspicuous consumption is buying something to show off.

Consumption is related to the verb consume, which means to eat, use, or buy. You will often read about consumption in terms of rate––how fast we are using up a particular resource. If you consume ten cookies in an hour, your rate of consumption is ten cookies an hour. Sustainable? Let's hope not.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: consumption

1	n	the act of consuming something
2	n	(economics) the utilization of economic goods to satisfy needs or in manufacturing
3	n	involving the lungs with progressive wasting of the body

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: consumption

1

n the act of consuming something

Synonyms:: expenditure, using up

Types:: burnup
the amount of fuel used up (as in a nuclear reactor)

Type of:: depletion
the act of decreasing something markedly

n the process of taking food into the body through the mouth (as by eating)

Synonyms:: ingestion, intake, uptake

Types:: show 24 types...; hide 24 types...; eating, feeding
the act of consuming food; deglutition, drink, swallow
the act of swallowing; suck, sucking, suction
the act of sucking; drinking, imbibing, imbibition
the act of consuming liquids; mycophagy
the practice of eating fungi (especially mushrooms collected in the wild); bite, chomp
the act of gripping or chewing off with the teeth and jaws; browse, browsing
the act of feeding by continual nibbling; coprophagia, coprophagy
eating feces; in human a symptom of some kinds of insanity; aerophagia
swallowing air (usually followed by belching and discomfort and flatulence); draft, draught, gulp, swig
a large and hurried swallow; dining
the act of eating dinner; engorgement
eating ravenously or voraciously to satiation; banqueting, feasting
eating an elaborate meal (often accompanied by entertainment); graze, grazing
the act of grazing; lunching
the act of eating lunch; repletion, surfeit
eating until excessively full; supping
ingestion of liquid food with a spoon or by drinking; degustation, relishing, savoring, savouring, tasting
taking a small amount into the mouth to test its quality; necrophagia, necrophagy
feeding on corpses or carrion; omophagia
the eating of raw food; scatophagy
the eating of excrement or other filth; gulping, guzzling, swilling
the drinking of large mouthfuls rapidly; sip
a small drink; potation
the act of drinking (especially an alcoholic drink)

Type of:: activity, bodily function, bodily process, body process
an organic process that takes place in the body

2

n (economics) the utilization of economic goods to satisfy needs or in manufacturing

“the consumption of energy has increased steadily”

Synonyms:: economic consumption, usance, use, use of goods and services

Types:: conspicuous consumption
buying expensive services and products in order to flaunt your wealth

Type of:: demand
the ability and desire to purchase goods and services

3

n involving the lungs with progressive wasting of the body

Synonyms:: phthisis, pulmonary tuberculosis, wasting disease, white plague

Type of:: T.B., TB, tuberculosis
infection transmitted by inhalation or ingestion of tubercle bacilli and manifested in fever and small lesions (usually in the lungs but in various other parts of the body in acute stages)