Use vs. Consume — What's the Difference?
By Urooj Arif & Fiza Rafique — Updated on March 9, 2024
Use implies employing something for a purpose, while consume denotes using up a resource or item.
Difference Between Use and Consume
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Use refers to the act of employing something for a particular purpose, such as using a tool to fix a car, whereas consume typically involves the usage of something in a way that it gets used up, like consuming food.
While use can imply a broad range of applications, from utilitarian to symbolic, without necessarily diminishing the item's existence, consume often suggests a depletion or reduction of the item's quantity or quality over time.
Use often denotes a functional or practical application, focusing on the utility aspect, whereas consume can carry implications of ingestion, expenditure, or absorption, often leading to the exhaustion of the consumed item.
In certain contexts, use can be repetitive or continuous without leading to the object's demise, such as using a reusable bag, whereas consume frequently implies a single-use or finite number of uses before the item is depleted, like consuming a bottle of water.
Use is a more general term that can encompass consume, but not all uses lead to consumption; for example, one can use a park for recreation without consuming its resources, whereas consuming a meal leads to its utilization and eventual disappearance.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
Employing something for a purpose.
Using something up.
Connotation
Functional, practical application.
Ingestion, depletion, expenditure.
Implication
May not deplete the item.
Often leads to depletion.
Reusability
Can be repetitive or continuous.
Often single-use or finite.
Scope
Broad, can encompass consume.
Specific, a subset of use.
Compare with Definitions
Use
Employing something for a purpose.
She used a pen to write a letter.
Consume
Eating or drinking something.
He consumed a large pizza by himself.
Use
Taking advantage of something.
He used the opportunity to advance his career.
Consume
Destroying or using up.
The fire consumed the forest rapidly.
Use
Applying a method or means.
They used diplomacy to resolve the conflict.
Consume
Engaging thoroughly, absorbing.
She was consumed by her research project.
Use
Operating or handling something.
She is skilled at using power tools.
Consume
Using resources or energy.
The machine consumes a lot of electricity.
Use
Exploiting or utilizing resources.
The company uses renewable energy sources.
Consume
Spending money or resources.
They consumed their savings on a luxury vacation.
Use
Take, hold, or deploy (something) as a means of accomplishing or achieving something; employ
She used her key to open the front door
The poem uses simple language
Consume
To take in as food; eat or drink up.
Use
Take or consume (an amount) from a limited supply
We have used all the available funds
Consume
To expend; use up
Engines that consume less fuel.
A project that consumed most of my time and energy.
Use
Describing an action or situation that was done repeatedly or existed for a period in the past
This road used to be a dirt track
I used to give him lifts home
Consume
To purchase (goods or services) for direct use or ownership.
Use
Be or become familiar with (someone or something) through experience
She was used to getting what she wanted
He's weird, but you just have to get used to him
Consume
To waste; squander.
Use
One would like or benefit from
I could use another cup of coffee
Consume
To destroy totally; ravage
Flames that consumed the house.
A body consumed by cancer.
Use
The action of using something or the state of being used for a purpose
Hyper-modern trains are now in use
The software is ideal for use in schools
Theatre owners were charging too much for the use of their venues
Consume
To absorb; engross
Consumed with jealousy.
Use
The value or advantage of something
It was no use trying to persuade her
What's the use of crying?
Consume
To purchase economic goods and services
A society that consumes as fast as it produces.
Use
The habitual consumption of a drug
Burgling and dealing financed their heroin use
Consume
(transitive) To use up.
The power plant consumes 30 tons of coal per hour.
Use
The characteristic ritual and liturgy of a Christian Church or diocese.
Consume
(transitive) To eat.
Baby birds consume their own weight in food each day.
Use
To put into service or employ for a purpose
I used a whisk to beat the eggs. The song uses only three chords.
Consume
(transitive) To completely occupy the thoughts or attention of.
Desire consumed him.
Use
To avail oneself of; practice
Use caution.
Consume
(transitive) To destroy completely.
The building was consumed by fire.
Use
To conduct oneself toward; treat or handle
"the peace offering of a man who once used you unkindly" (Laurence Sterne).
Consume
To waste away slowly.
Use
To seek or achieve an end by means of; exploit
Used their highly placed friends to gain access to the president.
Felt he was being used by seekers of favor.
Consume
To trade money for good or services as an individual.
In a materialistic society, individuals are taught to consume, consume, consume.
If you consume this product while in Japan, you may be subject to consumption tax.
Use
To take or consume for a purpose
She used her savings to buy a computer.
Consume
(transitive) To absorb information, especially through the mass media.
The Internet has changed the way we consume news.
Use
To partake of, especially as a habit
She rarely uses alcohol.
Consume
To destroy, as by decomposition, dissipation, waste, or fire; to use up; to expend; to waste; to burn up; to eat up; to devour.
If he were putting to my house the brandThat shall consume it.
Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume.
Let me alone . . . that I may consume them.
Use
(ys, yst) Used in the past tense followed by to in order to indicate a former state, habitual practice, or custom
Mail service used to be faster.
Consume
To waste away slowly.
Therefore, let Benedick, like covered fire,Consume away in sighs.
Use
(Slang) To take an illegal or narcotic drug, especially as a habit.
Consume
Eat immoderately;
Some people can down a pound of meat in the course of one meal
Use
The act of using something; the application or employment of something for a purpose
With the use of a calculator.
Skilled in the use of the bow and arrow.
Consume
Serve oneself to, or consume regularly;
Have another bowl of chicken soup!
I don't take sugar in my coffee
Use
The condition or fact of being used
A chair in regular use.
Consume
Spend extravagantly;
Waste not, want not
Use
The manner of using; usage
Learned the proper use of power tools.
Consume
Destroy completely;
The fire consumed the building
Use
The permission, privilege, or benefit of using something
Gave us the use of their summerhouse.
Consume
Use up (resources or materials);
This car consumes a lot of gas
We exhausted our savings
They run through 20 bottles of wine a week
Use
The power or ability to use something
Lost the use of one arm.
Consume
Engage fully;
The effort to pass the exam consumed all his energy
Use
The need or occasion to use or employ something
I have no use for these old clothes.
Use
The quality of being suitable or adaptable to an end; usefulness
I tried to be of use in the kitchen.
Use
A purpose for which something is used
A tool with several uses.
A pretty bowl, but of what use is it?.
Use
Gain or advantage; good
There's no use in discussing it. What's the use?.
Use
Accustomed or usual procedure or practice
"We are but creatures of use and custom" (Mark Twain).
Use
A particular custom or practice
Uses introduced by recent immigrants.
Use
Enjoyment of property, as by occupying or employing it.
Use
The benefit or profit of lands and tenements of which the legal title is vested in another.
Use
The arrangement establishing the equitable right to such benefits and profits.
Use
A liturgical form practiced in a particular church, ecclesiastical district, or community.
Use
The act of using.
The use of torture has been condemned by the United Nations.
Use
(uncountable) The act of consuming alcohol or narcotics.
Use
Usefulness, benefit.
What's the use of a law that nobody follows?
Use
A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
This tool has many uses.
Use
Occasion or need to employ; necessity.
I have no further use for these textbooks.
Use
Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
Use
(archaic) Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
Use
(obsolete) Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
Use
(Christianity) The special form of ritual adopted for use in any diocese.
The Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the Hereford use; the York use; the Roman use; etc.
Use
(forging) A slab of iron welded to the side of a forging, such as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.
Use
To utilize or employ.
Use
(transitive) To employ; to apply; to utilize.
Use this knife to slice the bread.
We can use this mathematical formula to solve the problem.
Use
To expend; to consume by employing.
I used the money they allotted me.
We should use up most of the fuel.
She used all the time allotted to complete the test.
Use
(transitive) To exploit.
You never cared about me; you just used me!
Use
(transitive) To consume (alcohol, drugs, etc), especially regularly.
He uses cocaine. I have never used drugs.
Use
(intransitive) To consume a previously specified substance, especially a drug to which one is addicted.
Richard began experimenting with cocaine last year; now he uses almost every day.
Use
To benefit from; to be able to employ or stand.
I could use a drink. My car could use a new coat of paint.
Use
To accustom; to habituate. Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.
Use
To become accustomed, to accustom oneself.
Use
To suggest, request, demand or expect that other people use a specific set of gender pronouns when referring to the subject.
I use they/them pronouns.
Use
To habitually do; to be wont to do. (Now chiefly in past-tense forms; see used to.)
I used to get things done.
Use
(dated) To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.
To use an animal cruelly
Use
To behave, act, comport oneself.
Use
The act of employing anything, or of applying it to one's service; the state of being so employed or applied; application; employment; conversion to some purpose; as, the use of a pen in writing; his machines are in general use.
Books can never teach the use of books.
This Davy serves you for good uses.
When he framedAll things to man's delightful use.
Use
Occasion or need to employ; necessity; as, to have no further use for a book.
Use
Yielding of service; advantage derived; capability of being used; usefulness; utility.
God made two great lights, great for their useTo man.
'T is use alone that sanctifies expense.
Use
Continued or repeated practice; customary employment; usage; custom; manner; habit.
Let later age that noble use envy.
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Use
Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
O Cæsar! these things are beyond all use.
Use
The special form of ritual adopted for use in any diocese; as, the Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the Hereford use; the York use; the Roman use; etc.
From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use.
Use
The premium paid for the possession and employment of borrowed money; interest; usury.
Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.
Use
The benefit or profit of lands and tenements. Use imports a trust and confidence reposed in a man for the holding of lands. He to whose use or benefit the trust is intended shall enjoy the profits. An estate is granted and limited to A for the use of B.
Use
A stab of iron welded to the side of a forging, as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.
Use
To make use of; to convert to one's service; to avail one's self of; to employ; to put a purpose; as, to use a plow; to use a chair; to use time; to use flour for food; to use water for irrigation.
Launcelot Gobbo, use your legs.
Some other means I have which may be used.
Use
To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat; as, to use a beast cruelly.
How wouldst thou use me now?
Cato has used me ill.
Use
To practice customarily; to make a practice of; as, to use diligence in business.
Use hospitality one to another.
Use
To accustom; to habituate; to render familiar by practice; to inure; - employed chiefly in the passive participle; as, men used to cold and hunger; soldiers used to hardships and danger.
I am so used in the fire to blow.
Thou with thy compeers,Used to the yoke, draw'st his triumphant wheels.
I would, my son, that thou wouldst use the powerWhich thy discretion gives thee, to controlAnd manage all.
To study nature will thy time employ:Knowledge and innocence are perfect joy.
Use
To be wont or accustomed; to be in the habit or practice; as, he used to ride daily; - now disused in the present tense, perhaps because of the similarity in sound, between "use to," and "used to."
They use to place him that shall be their captain on a stone.
Fears use to be represented in an imaginary.
Thus we use to say, it is the room that smokes, when indeed it is the fire in the room.
Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp.
Use
To be accustomed to go; to frequent; to inhabit; to dwell; - sometimes followed by of.
He useth every day to a merchant's house.
Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers useOf shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks.
Use
The act of using;
He warned against the use of narcotic drugs
Skilled in the utilization of computers
Use
A particular service;
He put his knowledge to good use
Patrons have their uses
Use
What something is used for;
The function of an auger is to bore holes
Ballet is beautiful but what use is it?
Use
(economics) the utilization of economic goods to satisfy needs or in manufacturing;
The consumption of energy has increased steadily
Use
A pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition;
She had a habit twirling the ends of her hair
Long use had hardened him to it
Use
(law) the exercise of the legal right to enjoy the benefits of owning property;
We were given the use of his boat
Use
Exerting shrewd or devious influence especially for one's own advantage;
His manipulation of his friends was scandalous
Use
Put into service; make work or employ (something) for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose;
Use your head!
We only use Spanish at home
I can't make use of this tool
Apply a magnetic field here
This thinking was applied to many projects
How do you utilize this tool?
I apply this rule to get good results
Use the plastic bags to store the food
He doesn't know how to use a computer
Use
Take or consume (regularly or habitually);
She uses drugs rarely
Use
Seek or achieve an end by using to one's advantage;
She uses her influential friends to get jobs
The president's wife used her good connections
Use
Use up, consume fully;
The legislature expended its time on school questions
Use
Avail oneself to;
Apply a principle
Practice a religion
Use care when going down the stairs
Use your common sense
Practice non-violent resistance
Use
Habitually do something (use only in the past tense);
She used to call her mother every week but now she calls only occasionally
I used to get sick when I ate in that dining hall
They used to vacation in the Bahamas
Common Curiosities
Can an activity be both use and consume?
Yes, some activities involve both use and consumption, like driving a car uses the car and consumes fuel.
What does it mean to consume something?
To consume something means to use it up in a way that it diminishes or depletes, like eating food or using fuel.
Can you use something without consuming it?
Yes, using something doesn't always lead to its consumption; for example, using a tool doesn't consume it.
Is consumption always related to food?
No, consumption can refer to using up any resource, not just food.
Is use always physical?
No, use can be conceptual or symbolic, like using an idea or principle.
What does it mean to use something?
To use something means to employ it for a particular purpose or function.
Can we use something indefinitely?
Some things can be used repeatedly or continuously without depletion, like renewable resources.
Do all consumptions lead to waste?
Many types of consumption produce waste, but not all; some are part of cyclical processes.
Does consume always imply destruction?
Not always destruction, but consume implies that something is used up or significantly diminished.
Is it possible to consume digital content?
Yes, consuming digital content involves engaging with it in a way that it fulfills its intended purpose, like watching a video.
What's the difference between use and misuse?
Use implies correct or intended application, while misuse involves incorrect or harmful application.
Is consuming always negative?
Not necessarily; consuming is a natural part of many processes, though excessive consumption can be harmful.
Can we consume ideas?
In a metaphorical sense, consuming ideas means to absorb or fully engage with them, not in a physical sense.
What's the ecological impact of use vs. consume?
Use has a varied ecological impact, whereas consumption, especially excessive, often leads to greater ecological strain.
Can something be used without being affected?
Yes, some uses don't materially affect the item, like using a route for navigation.
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Written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
Co-written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
