consummate
English
WOTD – 30 September 2008
Etymology
From Latin cōnsummātus, past participle of cōnsummāre (“to sum up, finish, complete”), from com- (“together”) + summa (“the sum”) (see sum, summation).
Pronunciation
- Adjective
- (UK) enPR: kŏn'səmət, kŏn'syo͝omət, kənsŭm'ĭt, IPA(key): /ˈkɒnsəmət/, /ˈkɒnsjʊmət/, /kənˈsʌmɪt/
- (US) enPR: kŏn'səmət, kənsŭm'ĭt, IPA(key): /ˈkɑnsəmət/, /kənˈsʌmɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
- Verb
- (UK) enPR: kŏn'səmāt, kŏn'syo͝omāt, IPA(key): /ˈkɒnsəmeɪt/, /ˈkɒnsjʊmeɪt/
- (US) enPR: kŏn'səmāt, IPA(key): /ˈkɑnsəmeɪt/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Adjective
consummate (comparative more consummate, superlative most consummate)
- Complete in every detail, perfect, absolute.
- Synonyms: absolute, complete, perfect, sheer, total, utter; see also Thesaurus:total
- 1712 January 23 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “SATURDAY, January 12, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 273; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697:
- A man of perfect and consummate virtue.
- 1859, George Meredith, chapter 5, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, OCLC 213819910:
- A sweeping and consummate vengeance for the indignity alone should satisfy him.
- 1880, George Bernard Shaw, The Irrational Knot, Chapter VII,
- […] Marmaduke, who had the consummate impudence to reply that […]
- 1900, Guy Wetmore Carryl, "The Singular Sangfroid of Baby Bunting",
- Belinda Bellonia Bunting//Behaved like a consummate loon
- Supremely skilled and experienced; highly accomplished; fully qualified.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:skilled
- a consummate sergeant
- 1843, John Ruskin, “Preface to the second edition”, in Modern Painters […] , volume I (parts I–II), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], page xxxii:
- Thus […] he loses sight of the remoter truth, that details perfect in unity, and, contributing to a final purpose, are the sign of the production of a consummate master.
- 1900, John Comfort Filmore, Pianoforte Music: Its history, with Biographical Sketches and Critical Estimates of its Greatest Masters, Presser, page 17:
- Many of these works are of permanent value from their nobility and beauty of style and their intrinsic emotional significance, and all are characterized by high intellectual qualities, and consummate musicianship.
- 1910, Lionel Giles (translator), The Art of War, Section IV (originally by Sun Tzu)
- The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, […] ; thus it is in his power to control success.
Derived terms
- consummately
Translations
complete, perfect, absolute
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supremely skilled and experienced
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Verb
consummate (third-person singular simple present consummates, present participle consummating, simple past and past participle consummated)
- (transitive) To bring (a task, project, goal etc.) to completion; to accomplish.
- Synonyms: complete, finish, round off; see also Thesaurus:end
- 1921, James Truslow Adams, The Founding of New England, chapter III:
- Although it was agreed by all that discovery must be consummated by possession and use, […]
- 1926, chapter X, in Against the Grain, translation of À rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans:
- In one word, in perfumery the artist completes and consummates the original natural odour, which he cuts, so to speak, and mounts as a jeweller improves and brings out the water of a precious stone.
- (transitive) To make perfect, achieve, give the finishing touch.
- Synonyms: complete, perfect, top off
- (transitive) To make (a marriage) complete by engaging in first sexual intercourse.
- the marriage was never consummated
- After the reception, he escorted her to the honeymoon suite to consummate their marriage.
- 1890, Giovanni Boccaccio, “part 10”, in James MacMullen Rigg, transl., The Decameron, volume 2:
- […] in the essay which he made the very first night to serve her so as to consummate the marriage he made a false move, […]
- 1913, Augustinus Lehmkuhl; Walter George Smith, “Divorce”, in Catholic Encyclopedia:
- In Christian marriage, which implies the restoration, by Christ Himself, of marriage to its original indissolubility, there can never be an absolute divorce, at least after the marriage has been consummated;
- (intransitive) To become perfected, receive the finishing touch.
- Synonyms: come to a head, mature, ripe
Derived terms
- consummation
- consummative
- consummator
- consummatory
Related terms
- consume
Translations
to bring something to completion
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to make a marriage complete by engaging in first sexual intercourse
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Further reading
- consummate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- consummate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
- “consummate”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- “consummate”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
- “consummate”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “consummate” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2023.
- consummate at OneLook Dictionary Search
Latin
Verb
cōnsummāte
- second-person plural present active imperative of cōnsummō