Noun

• (RP) IPA: /ˈkɒnsʌlt/, /kənˈsʌlt/
• (America) IPA: /ˈkɑnsʌlt/

Verb

• enPR: kənsŭlt', IPA: /kənˈsʌlt/

consult (plural consults)

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

   • The council broke; And all grave consults dissolved in smoke.

3. (obsolete) A council; a meeting for consultation.
   • 1730, Jonathan Swift, Death and Daphne, Chapter 5

     a consult of coquettes

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

• consultation

consult (consults, present participle consulting; 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, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iii]:

     Let us consult upon to-morrow's business.

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

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

   Coordinate term: look up#English|look up

   • 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.

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

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

   • 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), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Habakkuk 2:10 ↗:

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

• French: concerter
• German: Rat halten
• Russian: обсужда́ть

• French: consulter
• German: beraten, beratschlagen
• Italian: consultarsi
• Portuguese: consultar
• Russian: сове́товаться
• Spanish: consultar

• German: beraten
• Russian: консульти́ровать

• French: consulter
• German: um Rat fragen, um Rat nachsuchen, zu Rate ziehen, befragen
• Italian: consultare
• Portuguese: consultar
• Russian: консульти́роваться

• consultancy
• consultant
• consultation
• consultative