consummate means complete in every detail, perfect, absolute. It carries an Arena rating of 1640, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, consummate ranks #2,517 of 14,440 for Most Satisfying to Say, #2,574 of 14,448 for Funniest Words, #2,592 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words, #2,737 of 14,445 for Most Beautiful Words.
consummate is pronounced /ˈkɒnsəmət/.
Why “consummate” is a great word
To bring something to its ultimate, flawless completion, or to describe that state of perfect or supremely skilled entirety. From the Latin consummare (“to sum up, finish, complete”), from con- (“together”) + summa (“a sum, total”), first attested in English in the early 15th century. Unlike to “accomplish” a task or to be merely “proficient” in a skill, to consummate is to achieve a final, crowning unity. It is the last brushstroke that resolves a painting, the final note of a symphony that makes the whole suddenly inevitable, and the deep, settled silence after a vow—the quiet realization that something has become irrevocably and perfectly whole.
Etymology
First attested in the beginning of the 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English consummat(e) (“(past participle) fulfilled, completed; (adjective) perfect, consummate”), borrowed from Latin cōnsummātus, perfect passive participle of cōnsummō (“to sum up, finish, complete”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from con- (“together”) + summa (“a sum”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix); see sum, summation. Common participial usage up until Early Modern English.
adj
- Complete in every detail, perfect, absolute.“There lacke many things, that a consummate carde should haue.”
- Supremely skilled and experienced; highly accomplished; fully qualified.“a consummate sergeant”
- Consummated, completed, perfected, fully accomplished.“Till righteous fate Upon the Wooers' wrongs were consummate.”
- Consummated.“I doe but ſtay till your marriage be conſummate, and then go I toward Arragon.”
verb
- To bring (a task, project, goal etc.) to completion; to accomplish.“Although it was agreed by all that discovery must be consummated by possession and use, […]”
- To make perfect, achieve, give the finishing touch.
- To make (a marriage) complete by engaging in first sexual intercourse.“the marriage was never consummated”
- To become perfected, receive the finishing touch.
Words closest in meaning
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