subsume Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb contain or include
    • This new system subsumes the old one
  2. verb consider (an instance of something) as part of a general rule or principle
    colligate.

WordNet

Sub*sume" transitive verb
Etymology
Pref. sub- + L. sumere to take.
Definitions
  1. To take up into or under, as individual under species, species under genus, or particular under universal; to place (any one cognition) under another as belonging to it; to include under something else.
    To subsume one proposition under another. De Quincey.
    A principle under which one might subsume men's most strenuous efforts after righteousness. W. Pater.

Webster 1913