consult

English

Alternative forms

• consultation (Only noun form in UK)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation 1

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• consultation

Pronunciation 2

• enPR: kənsŭlt'
• IPA: /kənˈsʌlt/, SAMPA: /k@n"sVlt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

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. -William 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.

Translations

ask advice

Bulgarian: съветвам се (bg), съвещавам се (bg) Dutch: raadplegen (nl) Hebrew: התייעץ (he) (hitya'étz)

Latin: sciscitor (la) Portuguese: consultar (pt) Spanish: consultar (es)

intransitive, to advise or offer expertise

Bulgarian: консултирам (bg) Slovak: konzultovať (sk)

Zazaki: şewêrnaene

intransitive, to work as a consultant

Bulgarian: консултирам (bg)

transitive, to ask advice of; to seek the opinion of

Bulgarian: допитвам се (bg) Latin: sciscitor (la)

Portuguese: pedir conselho de (pt)

transitive, to have reference to, in judging or acting

Related terms

• consultancy
• consultant
• consultation
• consultative

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

External links

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