Etymology First attested in the beginning of the 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English consummat(e) (“(past participle) fulfilled, completed; (adjective) perfect, consummate”), borrowed from Latin cōnsummātus, perfect passive participle of cōnsummō (“to sum up, finish, complete”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from con- (“together”) + summa (“a sum”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix); see sum, summation. Common participial usage up until Early Modern English.
1
Complete in every detail, perfect, absolute.
There lacke many things, that a consummate carde should haue.1527, Robert Thorne, Divers Voyages touching the Dicoverie of America, volume 5:
A man of perfect and consummate virtue.1712 January 22 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, January 12, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 273; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
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A sweeping and consummate vengeance for the indignity alone should satisfy him.1859, George Meredith, chapter 5, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:
[…] Marmaduke, who had the consummate impudence to reply that […]1880, George Bernard Shaw, “Chapter VII”, in The Irrational Knot:
Belinda Bellonia Bunting//Behaved like a consummate loon1900, Guy Wetmore Carryl, The Singular Sangfroid of Baby Bunting:
England's first-half display was consummate in its control, Italy made to look decidedly average as Rice and Jude Bellingham controlled affairs and Kane made history.2023 March 23, Phil McNulty, “Italy 1-2 England”, in BBC Sport:
2
Supremely skilled and experienced; highly accomplished; fully qualified.
a consummate sergeant
Thus[…] he loses sight of the remoter truth, that details perfect in unity, and, contributing to a final purpose, are the sign of the production of a consummate master.1843, [John Ruskin], “Preface to the second edition”, in Modern Painters […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page xxxii:
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Many of these works are of permanent value from their nobility and beauty of style and their intrinsic emotional significance, and all are characterized by high intellectual qualities, and consummate musicianship.1900, John Comfort Filmore, Pianoforte Music: Its history, with Biographical Sketches and Critical Estimates of its Greatest Masters, Presser, page 17:
The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, […] ; thus it is in his power to control success.1910, Lionel Giles (translator), The Art of War, Section IV (originally by Sun Tzu)
At Ballet Theater, [James] Whiteside is in demand. His classical variations are high-octane sprints; he lifts ballerinas like they’re feathers. His consummate athleticism allows him to be the versatile artist he is: modern or dashing, playful or tragic.2021 March 10, Gia Kourlas, “Ballet Is Hard Enough. What Happens When You Lose a Year?”, in The New York Times:
I didn’t understand why at the time, but Jasmine is such a consummate performer and had already developed her idea of the role.2022 December 28, Jori Finkel, “Making Intergalactic and Intergenerational Art”, in The New York Times:
3
Obsolete, As a participle Consummated, completed, perfected, fully accomplished.
Till righteous fate Upon the Wooers' wrongs were consummate.1615, George Chapman, Odyssey:
4
Obsolete, Of a marriage, As a participle Consummated.
I doe but ſtay till your marriage be conſummate, and then go I toward Arragon.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 110, column 2:
Etymology First attested in c. 1525; either inherited from Middle English *consummaten (only attested in compound tenses) or directly borrowed from Latin consummātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.
1
To bring (a task, project, goal etc.) to completion; to accomplish.
Although it was agreed by all that discovery must be consummated by possession and use, […]1921, James Truslow Adams, The Founding of New England, chapter III:
In one word, in perfumery the artist completes and consummates the original natural odour, which he cuts, so to speak, and mounts as a jeweller improves and brings out the water of a precious stone.1926, chapter X, in Against the Grain, translation of À rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans:
2
To make perfect, achieve, give the finishing touch.
3
To make (a marriage) complete by the spouses' first engaging in sexual intercourse.
the marriage was never consummated
After the reception, he escorted her to the honeymoon suite to consummate their marriage.
3 more examples
[…] in the essay which he made the very first night to serve her so as to consummate the marriage he made a false move, […]1890, Giovanni Boccaccio, “part 10”, in James MacMullen Rigg, transl., The Decameron, volume 2:
In Christian marriage, which implies the restoration, by Christ Himself, of marriage to its original indissolubility, there can never be an absolute divorce, at least after the marriage has been consummated;1913, Augustinus Lehmkuhl, Walter George Smith, “Divorce”, in Catholic Encyclopedia:
In a 1739 case from Laifeng County, Hubei, the widow Zhang Shi (forty-five sui) was killed by her new second husband, Jiang Changyi (forty-three sui), when she refused to consummate her marriage with him.2000, Matthew H. Sommer, “Widows in the Qing Chastity Cult: The Nexus of Sex and Property in Law and in Women's Lives”, in Sex, Law, and Society in Late Imperial China, Stanford, Cali.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 187: