consult

English

Etymology 1

From Middle French consulte. In sense “council”, it represents Latin cōnsultum, Italian consulto; and it may have been often taken as a direct formation from the verb.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kŏn'sŭlt or kənsŭlt'
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒnsʌlt/, /kənˈsʌlt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnsʌlt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌlt

Noun

consult (countable and uncountable, plural consults)

1. (now US, countable) A visit to consult somebody, such as a doctor; a consultation.

   Synonym: consultation

2. (obsolete) The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, “Of the Iewes”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: , London: T H for Edward Dod, , →OCLC, 4th book, page 201:

     For firſt upon conſult of reaſon, there will bee found no eaſie aſſurance for to faſten a materiall or temperamentall propriety upon any nation; […]

3. (obsolete) The result of consultation; determination; decision.
   • a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, , volume IV, London: J and R Tonson, , published 1760, →OCLC, page 431:

     [T]he council broke; / And all their grave conſults diſſolv'd in ſmoke.

4. (obsolete) A council; a meeting for consultation.
   • 1730, Jonathan Swift, chapter 5, in Death and Daphne:

     a consult of coquettes

5. (obsolete) Agreement; concert.

Usage notes

• (visit to consult somebody): The noun consult is avoided in British English, where consultation is preferred. In American English, they are merely synonyms.

Etymology 2

From Middle French consulter, from Latin cōnsultō (“to deliberate, consult”), frequentative of cōnsulō (“to consult, deliberate, consider, reflect upon, ask advice”), from com- (“together”) + -sulō, from Proto-Indo-European *selh₁- (“to take, grab”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: kənsŭlt', IPA^(key): /kənˈsʌlt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌlt

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.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Let us consult upon to-morrow's business.

   • 1661 (written), published in 1681, Thomas Hobbes, A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England

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

   • 1889 January 11 [1888 December 21], Kung Taotai, “North Honan Road.”, in M. F. A. Fraser, transl., North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette‎, volume XLII, number 1119, Shanghai, →OCLC, page 37, column 1:

     SIR,—I have the honour to refer to your letter requesting me to desire Mr. Y. Ching-chong to come and consult with the Municipal Council, as Mr. Wood, the Chairman of that Body had informed you at a personal interview that they fully concurred in the desirability of co-operation with Mr. Ching-chong in improvements in the Honan road draining and lighting.

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 (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.

5. (transitive) To refer to (something) for information.

   Coordinate term: look up

   • 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.

   • 1837, William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences:

     Men forgot, or feared, to consult nature, to seek for new truths, to do what the great discoverers of other times had done; they were content to consult libraries.

6. (transitive) To have reference to, in judging or acting; to have regard to; to consider; as, to consult one's wishes.
   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: , London: R Sare, , →OCLC:

     We are […] to consult the necessities of life, rather than matters of ornament and delight.

7. (transitive, obsolete) To deliberate upon; to take for.
   • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

     Many things were there consulted for the future, yet nothing was positively resolved.

8. (transitive, obsolete) To bring about by counsel or contrivance; to devise; to contrive.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Habakkuk 2:10:

     Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people.

Derived terms

Related terms

• consultant
• consultation

Translations

References

Further reading

• “consult”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “consult”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Cultons

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin consultum.

Noun

consult n (plural consulturi)

1. consultation

Declension