A woman about to commit a crime
The Latin word consummāre came to Spanish as consummate . The first meaning of the term mentioned by the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) in its dictionary refers to concretizing or completing something .
Complete a process
Consume is associated with executing or finishing a process , an action , etc. Although this word has synonyms such as fulfill, complete, finalize and conclude , in addition to the already mentioned finish , none seems to provide such a conclusive nuance - worth the word - that expresses the passage to a new stage definitively or the achievement of a long-awaited goal.
Suppose that the board of directors of a club, at the request of a member, considers expelling a member for inappropriate behavior. To complete the expulsion , the sanction needs to be supported by more than half of the voters . This means that consummation is only achieved if the vote yields that result, not before.
Some examples
For example: “The woman did not manage to complete the crime since, when she was about to shoot her father, the police entered the home and arrested her,” “The only details are missing to complete the player's return to the team in the capital.” , “I waited twenty years to accomplish revenge, but I finally did it and now I am at peace.”
In the first example we can see that a woman was about to carry out her crime, but she could not complete it because the police officers entered her house and prevented her from doing so. The use of the verb consummate or its noun, consummation , to talk about crimes or crimes is very common, precisely because these acts consist of several steps, and can be interrupted.
On the other hand we have a sentence in which the idea of consummate refers to the completion of a procedure : the purchase of a soccer player so that he returns to a team in which he used to play. The world of professional sports works this way, and given that it is not enough for one party to make the decision to add a player to their team but rather it is a long negotiation, it is necessary to divide the process into several stages , from the signing until the contract is signed.
The last example presents us with the situation of someone who managed to get revenge and thanks to this he feels at peace. We must understand that from the day he decided to collect payment for the damage that had been done to him until he finally executed the plan and followed it to the end, a lot of time has probably passed. For this reason he was not guaranteed success, and to affirm that he achieved it he chooses to use the term consummate .
Comply with a legal act
In the field of law , consummate implies the fulfillment of a legal act . The concept is usually associated with the execution of a contract, although it also has other scopes.
To consummate a contract , it is necessary that the benefits that the contractual obligations entail are specified. When the contract is fulfilled, it is extinguished and becomes a consummated contract.
When the contract is fulfilled, it is consummated.
consummate the marriage
The idea of consummating the marriage , on the other hand, refers to ratifying the nuptial union through the first sexual relationship after marriage . Marriage is consummated with that intimate act between the members of the couple.
Although this concept is typical of certain religions and is itself part of the tradition of several cultures , nowadays it is not common to mention it or think about it. In fact, it is normal for sexual relations to precede marriage, so it completely loses its meaning. However, there are people who intend to maintain their virginity or avoid sexual contact until the moment they say "yes."