consumptive
One with phthisis
Consumptive describes something that uses up or depletes resources: consumptive water use, a consumptive lifestyle.
In older medical usage, consumptive referred to tuberculosis—the disease that "consumed" its victims—or to a person suffering from it: The consumptive poet died young.
This medical sense is now dated but appears in historical and literary contexts.
Pulmonary wasting disease
- sanatoriumFacility for prolonged recovery
- pulmonaryOf the lungs
- scrofulaTuberculous cervical lymphadenitis
- wastingUsing poorly, inefficiently
Koch's bacillus · mycobacterium · sputum · coughing · pleurisy · cavitary · contagion · infectious
Reckless depletion of resources
- profligateRecklessly extravagant or dissolute
- extravagantExceeding sensible bounds
- spendthriftReckless with money
- prodigalRashly wasteful spender
unthrifty · dissipated · improvident · reckless · inefficient · depleting · exhausting · draining
Abnormally wasted from hunger
- gauntLean from deprivation
- wanPale and unwell-looking
- pallidUnhealthily lacking color
- witheredDried and shrunken
skeletal · haggard · drawn · hollowed · sunken · thin · frail · weakened
Impossible to satisfy
- gluttonousExcessively fond of eating
- greedyExcessively wanting more
- rapaciousExcessively grasping or greedy
- devouringEating greedily and quickly
ravenous · unquenchable · excessive · immoderate · intemperate · acquisitive · hoarding · overindulgent
phthisis
Pulmonary wasting disease
- sanatoriumFacility for prolonged recovery
- pulmonaryOf the lungs
- scrofulaTuberculous cervical lymphadenitis
wasting · Koch's bacillus · mycobacterium · sputum · coughing · pleurisy · cavitary · contagion · infectious · lung disease
squandering
Reckless depletion of resources
- profligateRecklessly extravagant or dissolute
- extravagantExceeding sensible bounds
- spendthriftReckless with money
prodigal · unthrifty · dissipated · improvident · reckless · inefficient · depleting · exhausting · draining · unsustainable
emaciated
Abnormally wasted from hunger
withered · skeletal · haggard · drawn · hollowed · sunken · thin · frail · weakened · debilitated
insatiable
Impossible to satisfy
- gluttonousExcessively fond of eating
- greedyExcessively wanting more
- rapaciousExcessively grasping or greedy
devouring · ravenous · unquenchable · excessive · immoderate · intemperate · acquisitive · hoarding · overindulgent · grasping
- Victorianaseances, Dickens, spiritualism, Sherlock Holmes, phrenology
- Euphemismspass away, passed away, passed on, expecting, with child
- Old-Fashioned Medicineague, apoplexy, dropsy, grippe, humours
- Victorian eraparlour, Victorian etiquette, etiquette, parlor games, courtship
- Old-timey wordsicebox, gramophone, phonograph, horseless carriage, aeroplane
consumptiveproductive
Generating useful output
generative · creative · conserving · sustainable · regenerative
- mass consumptionLarge-scale public purchasing
- media consumptionEngaging with entertainment sources
- water consumptionQuantity of liquid ingested
- fuel consumptionRate of burning energy
- not for consumption
- power consumptionRate of electrical usage