consult

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Alternative spellings 1.2 Etymology 1.3 Pronunciation 1 1.3.1 Noun 1.3.1.1 Usage notes 1.3.1.2 Synonyms 1.4 Pronunciation 2 1.4.1 Verb 1.4.1.1 Translations 1.5 Related terms 1.6 External links

[edit] English

[edit] Alternative spellings

• consultation (Only noun form in UK)

[edit] Etymology

From French consulter < Latin consultare (“‘to deliberate, consult’”), frequentative of consulere (“‘to consult, deliberate, consider, reflect upon, ask advice’”) < com- (“‘together’”) + -sulere, of uncertain origin.

[edit] Pronunciation 1

• enPR: kŏn'sŭlt or kənsŭlt'
• (RP) IPA: /ˈkɒnsʌlt/, /kənˈsʌlt/, SAMPA: /"kQnsVlt/ or /k@n"sVlt/
• (US) IPA: /ˈkɑnsʌlt/, SAMPA: /"kAnsVlt/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Noun

consult (plural consults)

1. (obsolete): The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation; also, the result of consultation; determination; decision.

   The council broke; And all grave consults dissolved in smoke. -John Dryden.

2. (obsolete): A council; a meeting for consultation.

   A consult of coquettes. -Jonathan Swift.

3. (obsolete): Agreement; concert.
4. (US): A visit, e.g. to a doctor; a consultation.

[edit] Usage notes

• The noun consult is avoided in British English, favoring consultation instead. In AmE, they are merely synonyms.

[edit] Synonyms

• consultation

[edit] Pronunciation 2

• enPR: kənsŭlt'
• IPA: /kənˈsʌlt/, SAMPA: /k@n"sVlt/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Verb

to consult (third-person singular simple present consults, present participle consulting, simple past and past participle consulted)

1. (intransitive) To seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer.

   Let us consult upon to-morrow's business. -Shakespeare

   All the laws of England have been made by the kings England, consulting with the nobility and commons. - Thomas Hobbes.

2. (intransitive) To advise or offer expertise.
3. (intransitive) To work as a consultant or contractor rather than as a full-time employee of a firm.
4. (transitive) To ask advice of; to seek the opinion of; to apply to for information or instruction; to refer to; as, to consult a physician; to consult a dictionary.

   Men fergot, or feared, to consult ... ; they were content to consult liberaries. - William Whewell.

5. (transitive) To have reference to, in judging or acting; to have regard to; to consider; as, to consult one's wishes.

   We are ... to consult the necessities of life, rather than matters of ornament and delight. -L'Estrange.

6. (transitive), (obsolete): To deliberate upon; to take for.

   Many things were there consulted for the future, yet nothing was positively resolved. -Edward Hyde Clarendon.

7. (transitive), (obsolete): To bring about by counsel or contrivance; to devise; to contrive.

   Thou hast consulted shame to thy use by cutting off many people. -Hab. ii. 10.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Related terms

• consultancy
• consultant
• consultation
• consultative

[edit] External links

• consult in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• consult in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911