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 as belonging to it; to include or contain under something else.
  • verb To consider an occurrence as part of a principle or rule; to colligate

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

[Medieval Latin subsūmere : Latin sub-, sub- + Latin sūmere, to take; see em- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Latin subsumō, equivalent to the Latin sub- ("sub-") and sūmō ("to take"), confer the English consume.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Advanced societies invariably have subsumed whatever indigenous populations they've encountered

    August 29, 2010

  • 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