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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

sub·sume

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b-soom] Pronunciation Key

–verb (used with object), -sumed, -sum·ing.

1.	to consider or include (an idea, term, proposition, etc.) as part of a more comprehensive one.

2.	to bring (a case, instance, etc.) under a rule.

3.	to take up into a more inclusive classification.

[Origin: 1525–35; < ML subsūmere, equiv. to L sub- sub- + sūmere to take; see consume

]

—Related forms

sub·sum·a·ble, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
subsume

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

sub·sume Audio Help (səb-sōōm') Pronunciation Key
tr.v. sub·sumed, sub·sum·ing, sub·sumes
To classify, include, or incorporate in a more comprehensive category or under a general principle: "The evolutionarily later always subsumes and includes the evolutionarily earlier" (Frederick Turner).

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

sub·sum'a·ble adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
subsume

1535, from Mod.L. subsumere "to take under," from L. sub "under" + sumere "to take."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

subsume
verb
1.	contain or include; "This new system subsumes the old one"
2.	consider (an instance of something) as part of a general rule or principle

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Subsume

Sub*sume"\, v. t. [Pref. sub- + L. sumere to take.] 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.

To subsume one proposition under another. --De Quincey.

A principle under which one might subsume men's most strenuous efforts after righteousness. --W. Pater.

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