Word.ws English Dictionary

consumptive

/kənˈsʌmptɪv/

consumptive adjective: having a tendency to consume; dissipating; destructive; wasteful.

Adjective

consumptive (comparative more consumptive, superlative most consumptive)

  1. Having a tendency to consume; dissipating; destructive; wasteful.
    • a long consumptive war1708, Joseph Addison, The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation
    • [O]n ſome occaſions, he diſplayed all his fund of good humour, vvith a vievv to beguile her ſorrovv; he importuned her to give him the pleasure of ’ſquiring her to ſome place of innocent entertainment; and, finally, inſiſted upon her accepting a pecuniary reinforcement to her finances, vvhich he...1753, [Tobias Smollett], “Count Fathom Unmasks His Battery; is Repulsed; and Varies His Operations without Effect”, in The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom. […], volume II, London: […] W....
  2. Of or relating to consumption.
  3. Relating to pulmonary tuberculosis.
    • consumptive cough
    • The lean, conſumptive, wench, with coughs decay'd, / Is call'd a pretty, tight, and ſlender maid.a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Latter Part of the Fourth Book of Lucretius; Concerning the Nature of Love”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob]...

Noun

consumptive (plural consumptives)

  1. A person suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis.
    • The consumptive has managed to shake the servant from her side and walks alone, striving to make it look easy.2002, Michel Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White, Canongate Books (2010), page 426

consumptive meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada

consumptive in Tamil

நுரையீரல் காசநோயர்

consumptive in Malayalam

ചെലവഴിക്കുന്ന, ക്ഷയരോഗമുളള, നശിക്കുന്ന, ക്ഷയിക്കുന്ന

consumptive in Kannada

ಕ್ಷಯ ರೋಗಿ

Forms of consumptive

Adjective
comparativemore consumptive
superlativemost consumptive
Noun
pluralconsumptives

Origin of consumptive

From con- + Latin sūmptus + -ive, from Middle English consumptive, from Latin cōnsūmptus, past participle of cōnsūmō.

Words formed from consumptive

Questions about consumptive

What does consumptive mean?
Consumptive means having a tendency to consume; dissipating; destructive; wasteful.
What is consumptive in Tamil?
Consumptive in Tamil is நுரையீரல் காசநோயர். See Consumptive meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is consumptive?
Consumptive can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce consumptive?
Consumptive is pronounced /kənˈsʌmptɪv/.

Words near consumptive in the dictionary

  1. consumption room
  2. consumption rooms
  3. consumption weed
  4. consumptional
  5. consumptions
  6. consumptive
  7. consumptively
  8. consumptiveness
  9. consumptives
  10. consumptivity
  11. consumpts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: consumptive (page history and authors); consumptive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); consumptive (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); consumptive (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “consumptive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/consumptive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.