inconsumable

English

Etymology

in- +‎ consumable

Adjective

inconsumable (not comparable)

1. Not consumable;
   1. Incapable of being consumed, wasted, or spent by normal use.
      • 1785, William Paley, The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy:

        WHEN the identical loan is to be returned, as a book, a horse, a harpsichord, it is called inconsumable; in opposition to corn, wine, money, and those things which perish

      • 1912, Andrew Stephenson, A History of Roman Law:

        All things that do not lose their substance by use are classified as inconsumable.

      • 1993, Algirdas Julien Greimas, The Semiotics of Passions, page 70:

        It indeed seems that compliments, words, and endearments, just like hoardable goods and inconsumable goods, can be considered here in terms of objects in circulation, caught up in a general system of exchange, be that system societywide or between individuals.

      • 2021, Andrius Smaliukas, Property and Trust Law in Lithuania:

        An importance of this classification to Lithuanian property law can be illustrated by the example that has already been mentioned in the context of the classification of things into immovables and movables—only inconsumable movables may be the object of the usufruct.

   2. Incapable of being consumed by any destructive or neutralizing force or act; indestructable; persistent.
      • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, pages passage=Whereof by art were weaved Napkins, Shirts, and Coats, inconsumable by fire; and wherein they burnt the bodies of Kings.:
      • 1770, Sir James Steuart, An Inquiry Into the Principles of Political Oeconomy, page 360:

        The only thing inconsumable is the surface of the earth.

      • 1821, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Epipsychidion:

        ever still Burning, yet ever inconsumable:

      • 1848, Orville Luther Holley, The Life of Benjamin Franklin, page 91:

        Among some rarities which Benjamin had taken with him from Philadelphia, was a purse made of asbestos, or, as it is sometimes called, amianthus; a kind of stone, which is not only inconsumable by fire , but so fibrous as to be separable into threads flexible enough to be compactly and smoothly woven; and the webs made of it, when soiled by use, are cleaned by putting them into the fire, instead of a wash-tub.

      • 1906, Arthur Glyn Leonard, The Lower Niger and Its Tribes, page 122:

        This, of course, is due to the countless and thirsty drought demons, who, with a thirst which is inconsumable, drink up all the moisture, so that the streams run low, the rain-fed water holes shrink to puddles, the green juicy foliage shrivels, and the earth herself gets baked, and parched, and hot.

      • 2013, Zuriel Ann Murphy, The Spoken Word: 365 Days of Rhema, page 287:

        As long as the Lord remains unchangeable, we are inconsumable.

   3. That one cannot consume; unusable.
      • 2004, T. Morton, Cultures of Taste/Theories of Appetite, page 178:

        We must think of that which is beyond what we can think, beyond what thinking can consume and beyond what is the inconsumable for thinking.

      • 2010, J. Mohaghegh, New Literature and Philosophy of the Middle East:

        This possibility, in turn—one through which all impressions are left virulent and amorphous—would mark an extreme breaking point whereby knowledge itself is cast toward the inconsumable (i.e., an irreconcilable collapse of consciousness).

      • 2016, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, What is Property?:

        Thus, so much of every product as is rendered by excessive abudance inconsumable, becomes useless, valueless, unexchangeable,—consequently, unfit to be given in payment for anything whatever, and is no longer a product.

Related terms

• inconsumably