consuming
多くの時間や労力を要する
解説 Definition
仕事・役割・手続きなどが、時間や体力、注意を大量に吸い上げ、他の予定や休息の余白を狭めることを表す形容詞。能力的に難しいというより、関わり続けるだけで生活資源を食う負担の大きさを示す。
Consuming describes something that takes a lot of time, energy, attention, or emotional strength. It is often used for work, responsibilities, interests, or feelings. The word suggests that the thing strongly affects your focus or daily life.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
この用法では consume の「消費する」がほぼ文字通り働き、対象が時間・労力・気力を使い切らせると考えると自然です。a consuming job は、難問というより拘束が大きく、終えるころには余力が残らない仕事。time-consuming はこの意味が固定化した代表例です。心を奪う consuming passion が内面の支配なら、こちらは日々のリソースを削る外的負担に注目します。
`Consuming` comes from `consume`, so imagine something slowly eating up your time or energy. The easiest phrase to remember is `time-consuming`. Unlike `demanding`, which focuses on difficulty, `consuming` focuses on how much of your life it takes up.
例文
Caring for two small children is a consuming job.
幼い子ども二人の世話は、多くの時間と労力を要する仕事だ。
The lawsuit became a consuming burden for the company.
その訴訟は会社にとって大きな時間と気力を奪う重荷になった。
His new management role is so consuming that he rarely leaves on time.
彼の新しい管理職は非常に手がかかり、定時に帰れることがほとんどない。
心を奪う
(意味 2)解説 Definition
情熱・欲望・関心・悲しみなどが非常に強く、頭の中や生活の中心を占める様子を表す。単に程度が高いだけでなく、その感情や関心から離れにくく、ほかのことが見えなくなるほどのめり込む響きがある。主に抽象的な感情や思いについて使う。
If something is consuming, it is so strong that it fills your thoughts and becomes the center of your life. It is often used for feelings, desires, interests, or sadness that are hard to step away from. It can also describe work or problems that take so much time, energy, or attention that little is left for other things.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
`consume`＝「消費する」を知っていれば、「時間・気力・注意をどんどん食っていくもの」が `consuming`。食べ物を消費する話ではなく、仕事・介護・手続きのように人のリソースを奪う負担の大きさに結びつけると残りやすいです。定番は `time-consuming` で、「不可能ではないが、そのぶん時間を持っていかれる」という感覚。`exhausting` が体力面の消耗、`demanding` が要求の多さ寄りなのに対し、`consuming` は生活の余白まで圧迫する重さを意識すると区別しやすいです。
If you know consume means "use up," consuming is something that seems to eat up your time, energy, or attention. Think of it not as food, but as work, caregiving, or paperwork that takes over your life. A very common example is time-consuming: not impossible, but costly because it keeps taking your time. Unlike exhausting, which stresses physical tiredness, or demanding, which stresses high requirements, consuming suggests that it leaves little room for anything else.
例文
He felt a consuming passion for music that shaped every part of his life.
彼は音楽への心を奪うような情熱に満たされ、人生のすべてがそれに左右されていた。
After the accident, she was filled with a consuming grief that made it hard to think about anything else.
事故のあと、彼女はほかのことが見えなくなるほどの深い悲しみにとらわれていた。
Preparing the documents was a consuming, time-consuming process that took over our weekends.
書類の準備は週末を奪ってしまうほど重く、時間もかかる作業だった。
激しい
(意味 3)解説 Definition
熱・痛み・怒りなどが非常に強く、身を焼くようなつらさや勢いを感じさせるときに使う。何かに夢中になるというより、感覚や感情の強度そのものに焦点があり、圧倒されるような激しさを表す。苦痛や暑さ、破壊的な力を述べる文脈で見られる。
As an adjective, consuming describes something so strong that it seems to burn through you or take over your whole mind or body. It is often used for intense heat, pain, anger, fear, or desire rather than for simple interest. The focus is on overwhelming force or suffering, especially in contexts of distress, pressure, or destructive energy.
例文
She felt a consuming pain in her chest and could barely speak.
彼女は胸に激しい痛みを感じ、ほとんど話せなかった。
The town was trapped under a consuming heat that made even short walks exhausting.
町は身を焼くような激しい暑さに包まれ、少し歩くだけでもきつかった。
He was driven by a consuming anger that affected every decision he made.
彼は激しい怒りに突き動かされ、その怒りがあらゆる判断に影響していた。
consuming の類義語・関連語
consuming の語源・成り立ち Etymology
consuming は consume＋-ing。consume はラテン語 consumere にさかのぼり、con-『すっかり』＋sumere『取る』で『完全に取り尽くす』が原義。心や時間を全部さらう感覚から『夢中にさせる』となり、assume や resume も同じ sumere 系です。
Consuming comes from consume plus -ing. Consume goes back to Latin consumere, meaning to use up completely, from con- “completely” and sumere “to take.” Because the word had the sense of taking something up entirely, consuming later came to describe something that fully takes over your time, energy, or attention. Related words from the same root include assume and resume.
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