Read along with the three podcasts, or open the full dictionary entry for Consuming for the definition, Arabic meaning, synonyms and example sentences.
Narrator: Today's word is "Consuming" — adjective, pronounced /kənˈsjuːmɪŋ/, with the stress on "sjoo".
Narrator: Consuming means taking up all your attention, energy or time.
Narrator: In plain English, consuming means so strong that it fills your mind.
Narrator: It comes from the Latin consumere, to use up, from con, together, and sumere, to take.
Narrator: "A consuming passion" describes an interest that dominates your life.
Narrator: It differs from absorbing because consuming suggests something that takes over, whereas absorbing is simply deeply interesting.
Narrator: "Time consuming" is a second pattern, meaning something that takes a long time.
Narrator: Psychology, literature, business, cooking and everyday speech all rely on the word consuming.
Narrator: So remember: consuming means taking over your attention, from the Latin for using up.
Speaker A: What does consuming mean?
Speaker B: All-absorbing! CONSUMING comes from the Latin consumere, to use up, so it uses up your energy.
Speaker A: So it can be good or bad?
Speaker B: Yes — a consuming hobby or a consuming worry!
Speaker A: Example sentences?
Speaker B: "Music was his consuming passion"; "Editing is time consuming"; "A consuming fire swept the hall" — hobbies, work and fire.
Speaker A: Common mistakes?
Speaker B: Don't mix up consuming and consumer, because consuming is an adjective or verb form, while consumer is a person who buys.
Speaker A: Close relatives?
Speaker B: 'Overwhelming' the strong cousin, 'all-absorbing' the deep twin, 'obsessive' the intense alternative. The word keeps its all-encompassing charm!
Speaker B: Let's use "Consuming" in AI prompts — useful for project estimates and wellbeing apps.
Speaker A: So a prompt could frame effort?
Speaker B: Right. For project planning, you'd write:
Prompt: List the most time consuming tasks in this project and suggest which ones can be automated.
Speaker A: How about performance?
Speaker B: Ask the model to analyse:
Prompt: Find the most memory consuming function in this code and suggest a cheaper way to write it.
Speaker A: Could it help with wellbeing?
Speaker B: Yes, you can frame advice:
Prompt: Write gentle advice for someone whose work has become consuming and is affecting their sleep.
Speaker A: One more?
Speaker B: For a content bot, try this:
Prompt: Rewrite this paragraph to be shorter and less time consuming to read.
Consuming — meaning in Arabic & definition More C courses GL Dictionary