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subsume - 4 dictionary results

sub⋅sume

  [suhb-soom]
Use subsume in a Sentence
–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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To subsume
sub·sume   (səb-sōōm')   
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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subsume 
1535, from Mod.L. subsumere "to take under," from L. sub "under" + sumere "to take."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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