consumptive

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   affected by or characteristic of pulmonary tuberculosis

   The physician recognized the feverish, consumptive appearance described in the old account.

2. 2
   noun

   dated: a person suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis

   The novel describes him, in the language of its period, as a consumptive.

3. 3
   adj

   using up a resource, especially water, so that it is not immediately returned

   Irrigated farming is the region's largest consumptive use of water.

From Middle English consumptive, ultimately from Latin consumptus, the past participle of consumere ('to use up'), + -ive. The medical senses come from consumption, the historical name for tuberculosis, whose wasting effects seemed to consume the body.

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