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Consume vs Gnaw - What's the difference?

consume | gnaw | Related terms |

Consume is a related term of gnaw.


As verbs the difference between consume and gnaw

is that consume is while gnaw is to bite something persistently, especially something tough.

consume

English

Verb

(consum)
  • To use.
    • The power plant consumes 30 tons of coal per hour.
  • To eat.
    • Baby birds consume their own weight in food each day.
  • To completely occupy the thoughts or attention of.
    • Desire consumed him.
  • To destroy completely.
    • The building was consumed by fire.
  • * Shakespeare
    • If he were putting to my house the brand / That shall consume it.
  • * Bible, Matthew vi. 20
    • Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume .
  • (obsolete) To waste away slowly.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Therefore, let Benedick, like cover'd fire, / Consume away in sighs.
  • * 1899 , Kate Chopin, The Awakening :
    • He assured her the child was consuming at that moment in the next room.

    Synonyms

    * (use) burn (of energy ), use, use up * (eat) devour, eat, swallow * (occupy) occupy, overcome, take over * (destroy) annihilate, destroy, devastate, eliminate, obliterate, raze (of a building ), wipe out

    Derived terms

    * consumer

    Related terms

    * consumption * consumptive

    gnaw

    English

    Verb

  • To bite something persistently, especially something tough.
    • The dog gnawed the bone until it broke in two.
  • To produce excessive anxiety or worry.
    • Her comment gnawed at me all day and I couldn't think about anything else.
  • To corrode; to fret away; to waste.

    • Derived terms

    * gnawer * gnawable

    Anagrams

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