Make Your Point: SUBSUME

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pronounce SUBSUME:

sub SOOM

connect this word to others:

As we saw recently while exploring the words presume and presumptuous, words with "sume" in them, such as assume, resume, and consume, likely trace back to the Latin emere, meaning "to take, to buy, or to obtain."

That's true for the word subsume, too, which we're checking out today. To subsume things is to take them in, to take them up, as if from underneath. Here's H. G. Blob subsuming an employee into the company, figuratively but also quite literally.

(Source)

See if you can recall one more word from the emere family: Originally "to pre-buy," the word pr_-em__ now means "to prevent something from happening by taking action beforehand."

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

"Subsume" has Latin bits that literally mean "to take under."

In English, centuries ago, we used "subsume" to mean "to assume: to figure out, to infer." The meaning slowly warped into "to state, to put forth," and then "to allege, to accuse," and then "to put one statement underneath another."

Eventually, the meaning warped into the one we use today: to subsume something is to put it inside some broader thing. In other words, to subsume things is to contain or include them in something larger.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, the transitive kind: "A cult subsumes its members."

Other forms:

The other verb forms are "subsumed" and "subsuming."

The noun is "subsumption," as in "Cults demand the subsumption of their members."

There are several adjectives:
1. "Subsumed," as in "Winston's government is oppressive; his identity is subsumed."
2. "Subsumable," as in "Winston's government treats all citizens as subsumable."
3. "Subsumptive," as in "Winston's government flaunts its subsumptive powers."

how to use it:

Pick the formal, common, businesslike, somewhat ugly and cold word "subsume" when you want to describe how something bigger and more powerful has swallowed up something smaller and meeker: taken it over, taken it in, absorbed it, maybe even changed it, erased it, or destroyed it.

You might talk about a huge company subsuming smaller ones or entire markets, or about a popular cultural trend subsuming the Internet, or about a manic new obsession (such as a hobby, a relationship, or a job) subsuming someone's personality, identity, or life.

examples:

"[Rebecca Traister] got married when she was thirty-five, to a man who was a decade older. At that age, she writes, 'one of us was not simply going to subsume the other.' In other words, they had selves, ones they wanted to keep and share.''
— Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 16 May 2016

"[In] Tucker Carlson's sobriety story... even in a moment of honest vulnerability, one can feel the fictional character he plays on television ready to subsume the man at any moment."
— Andrew Moseman, Slate, 15 February 2026

has this page helped you understand "subsume"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

study it:

Explain the meaning of "subsume" without saying "take into" or "incorporate."

try it out:

Check out this example from an obituary in the L. A. Times for Gordon Davidson, "the Moses of theater:"

"Among Davidson's personal signatures were inexhaustible energy, a willingness to let theater virtually subsume his life, and a natural warmth and amiability that helped him forge connections with audiences and performers."

In your opinion, is it a good thing to let your career "virtually subsume [your] life"? Why or why not?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Coaxed into a Haiku!"

I'll give you the basics of a news story, and you boil the story down into a haiku. You can check out some examples here.

Feel free to take full creative license, omitting or warping the facts, adding dialogue, using slang, cursing, and/or burying the lede. Just do your best to fit the story into a three-line poem of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, respectively.

Try this one today...

"Whaling Museum goes viral for 'worst aquarium ever' T-shirts, totes. New Bedford is considered the home of whaling's history in America — and now, home to the worst aquarium ever. In 2020, a Google user left a one-star review of the New Bedford Whaling Museum coining that phrase. Last fall, the museum began selling shirts and hoodies with the review on the back and a whale skeleton on the front. Now, the design is capturing national attention."
— Anna Albrecht, Associated Press, 27 July 2026

To see one possible haiku, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. A near opposite of SUBSUME could be

A. AVOID or ESCHEW.
B. DISTANCE or DIFFERENTIATE.
C. CONCENTRATE or SUBLIMATE.

2. Writing about a death in the family, Alison Smale said that "duties and ritual tried to subsume sorrow." That word "subsume" helped her emphasize how these routines _____.

A. ease or mitigate sorrow
B. glorify or sanctify sorrow
C. incorporate or swallow up sorrow

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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