From Middle 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.
- enPR: kŏn'sŭlt or kənsŭlt'
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɒnsʌlt/, /kənˈsʌlt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈkɑnsʌlt/
Audio (US) (file)
consult (plural consults)
- (obsolete) The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation
- (obsolete) the result of consultation; determination; decision.
- The council broke; And all grave consults dissolved in smoke. -John Dryden.
- (obsolete) A council; a meeting for consultation.
- A consult of coquettes. -Jonathan Swift.
- (obsolete) Agreement; concert.
- (US) A visit, e.g. to a doctor; a consultation.
- The noun consult is avoided in British English, favoring consultation instead. In AmE, they are merely synonyms.
- (intransitive) To seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer.
- (intransitive) To advise or offer expertise.
- (intransitive) To work as a consultant or contractor rather than as a full-time employee of a firm.
- (transitive) To ask advice of; to seek the opinion of (a person)
- 1899, John Cotton Dana, chapter 1, in A Library Primer:
- If you have no library commission, consult a lawyer and get from him a careful statement of what can be done under present statutory regulations.
- (transitive) To refer to (something) for information
- 1904, Guy Wetmore Carryl, chapter 3, in Far from the Maddening Girls:
- Which reminds me that I have never remembered from that hour to consult the dictionary upon a selvage.
- Men forgot, or feared, to consult ... ; they were content to consult libraries. - William Whewell.
- (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.
- (transitive, obsolete) To deliberate upon; to take for.
- Many things were there consulted for the future, yet nothing was positively resolved. -Edward Hyde Clarendon.
- (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. - Bible, Heb. ii. 10.