Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To classify or include in a more comprehensive category or under a general principle.
- transitive verb To absorb (something) into or cause (something) to be overshadowed by something else.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In logic, to state (a case) under a general rule; instance (an object or objects) as belonging to a class under consideration.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To take up into or under, as individual under species, species under genus, or particular under universal; to place (any one cognition) under another as belonging to it; to include under something else.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
place (any one cognition) under another asbelonging to it; toinclude orcontain under something else. - verb To
consider anoccurrence as part of a principle or rule; tocolligate
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb contain or include
- verb consider (an instance of something) as part of a general rule or principle
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"subsume" the least of individual things except in so far as the material element which is its body would surround all living things and bring them into contact with one another.
The Complex Vision John Cowper Powys 1917
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But in the world of professional cooking, learning requires you to subsume yourself and your ego in the undifferentiated mass that labors at the bottom of the kitchen hierarchy.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentices Lisa Abend 2011
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So how about we subsume “states rights” within the general concept of “subsidiarity”?
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The truth about Custer --- which is to say one of the truths about him --- that Berger is getting at through Jack Crabb is that Custer was intensely charismatic and he had that ability charismatic leaders have of convincing other people to subsume their egos in his and to start seeing the world the way they do, as being all about and for them.
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Infact, after controlling for regional heterogeneity, any one of these three variables is sufficient to subsume the impact of regime type on wars, militarized interstate disputes (MIDs), and fatal disputes.
Moral and Mental Development, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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A statement which so mischaracterised the nature of the relationship between any supporters and their national side that it threatened to subsume all legitimate definitions of trust into its black hole of idiocy.
Why John Terry has done his 'fronting up' for the last time | Marina Hyde 2011
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And finally, "A few collections of essays on novelists or various aspects of fiction have been especially valuable because of the attitudes torwards fiction that subsume them:"
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Ms. Sussman, who was born in England in 1961 but lives and works in Brooklyn, has the ability to subsume viewers in opulence with images as thick and sweet as molasses.
Taking Senses to the Extreme Lance Esplund 2010
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The older I get, the less I want to subsume my entire life's work and hopes into some poor small person who would have done nothing to deserve the resentment I would surely feel.
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Technocratic bad ideas tend to co-opt and subsume the elites and those with money and power.
What's Wrong With DeLong?, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
jwjarvis commented on the word subsume
Advanced societies invariably have subsumed whatever indigenous populations they've encountered
August 29, 2010
mohitanand commented on the word subsume
erb: contain or include
The rogue wave quickly subsumed the pier and boardwalk, destroying everything in its path.
verb: consider (an instance of something) as part of a general rule or principle
Don Quixote of La Mancha subsumes all other modern novels, demonstrating modern literary devices and predating even the idea of a postmodern, metanarrative.
October 19, 2016