2 syllables: con, sumes. Stress on sumes.
kuhn-SOOMZ
/kəˈnsumz/
consumes is pronounced kuhn-SOOMZ (/kəˈnsumz/). It has two syllables (con-sumes), with the stress on "sumes". Consumes is a third-person singular present tense verb meaning to use up resources or ingest food or drink. In common usage, it often describes habitual or ongoing activity (e.g., he consumes a lot of energy). The pronunciation features a stressed final syllable, with a clear /z/ ending, commonly realized as /kənˈsjuːmz/ or /kənˈsuːmz/ in connected speech depending on accent.
Consumes is a third-person singular present tense verb meaning to use up resources or ingest food or drink. In common usage, it often describes habitual or ongoing activity (e.g., he consumes a lot of energy). The pronunciation features a stressed final syllable, with a clear /z/ ending, commonly realized as /kənˈsjuːmz/ or /kənˈsuːmz/ in connected speech depending on accent.
"The company consumes significant amounts of energy to power its manufacturing plants."
"She consumes almost every article on the topic, leaving little for others to say."
"Over time, the habit consumes his spare time and patience."
Pronounce as /kənˈsuːmz/ (US) or /kənˈsjuːmz/ (UK/AU) with primary stress on the second syllable: con-SUMES. Start with a short, unstressed /kən/ and then the longer stressed /ˈsuː/ (or /ˈsjuː/), ending with /mz/ as a voiced pair of consonants. In rapid speech, the /juː/ can reduce to a shorter /uː/ or merge slightly with the following /m/, but keep the final /z/ voicing clear.
Two frequent errors: misplacing the stress or misproducing the final consonant cluster. Some learners place the stress on the first syllable (con-SUMES) rather than the second; this weakens the word’s natural rhythm. Others devoice the final /z/ and say /mz/ as /m/ or /s/ instead of a voiced /z/. Correction: practice /kənˈsuːmz/ (US) or /kənˈsjuːmz/ (UK/AU) and ensure the final lip-to-teeth /z/ is voiced; keep the /m/ before it clear.
US: /kənˈsuːmz/ with a strong /uː/ and clear /z/. UK/AU: /kənˈsjuːmz/ or /kənˈsuːmz/ with a lighter /j/ glide after /s/ in some speakers; rhoticity is typically non-rhotic in careful speech but becomes rhotic in connected speech with linking. Australia often resembles UK English in vowel quality but may preserve broader vowel length with less /j/ after /s/ in casual speech. Consistency of final /z/ remains a voiced alveolar fricative.
The difficulty centers on the two-syllable stress shift and the final voiced /z/ after a long /uː/ vowel, which can bleed into a /z/ or /s/ sound in rapid speech. Learners may mis-stress, say /ˈkɒnˌsuːmz/ with wrong vowel, or reduce the /z/ to /s/. Tip: emphasize the second syllable with a strong glide into /uː/ and ensure the final voiced /z/ is maintained in careful pronunciation.
No silent letters in consumes, but the challenge is the production of the second syllable’s long vowel and the voiced final /z/. Some learners may swallow the /uː/ to a shorter /u/ or reduce the /z/ to /s/ in casual speech. Practice by isolating the /suː/ or /sjuː/ portion and then blending into a smooth /mz/ cluster.
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- US: emphasize /ˈsuː/ with clear lip rounding and a longer vowel; ensure /z/ is voiced. - UK: /ˈsjuːmz/ or /ˈsuːmz/ with either a light /j/ before the /uː/; non-rhotic environments may drop linking r, but the word final /z/ remains. - AU: similar to UK but may keep a slightly broader vowel and less pronounced /j/; ensure rhythmic stress matches US timing. Use IPA as reference /kənˈsuːmz/ or /kənˈsjuːmz/.
Consumes comes from the verb consume, which originates in Middle English from Old French consommer, and ultimately from Latin consumere, meaning to use up, waste, or expend. The Latin consumere is composed of con- (“together, thoroughly”) plus sumere (“to take or take up”). In Latin, consumpĕre carried senses of eating, consuming, and destroying—often with the sense of finishing or exhausting a resource. Through Old French, the word entered Middle English with similar senses of devouring or using up. By the 14th–15th centuries, consume was common in both physical intake (food) and abstract use (resources, costs). By the modern period, consumes as third-person singular present commonly appears in business, legal, and everyday contexts to indicate habitual or ongoing depletion or ingestion. The phonology evolved with English stress patterns on the second syllable (con-SUMES), a shift reinforced by the verb’s French-derived suffix -s for third-person singular. The pronunciation in US/UK/AU has stabilized around /kənˈsuːmz/ (RP typically /kənˈsjuːmz/; see phonetics) with niceties in vowel quality and final consonant voicing influenced by connected speech and final-z assimilation. First attested in English literature after the 14th century, the sense of consuming both food and resources matured during the early modern period as industrial and economic language developed around depletion and expenditure.
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Words that rhyme with "consumes"
-mes sounds
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