consist
Americanverb (used without object)
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to be made up or composed (usually followed byof ).
This cake consists mainly of sugar, flour, and butter.
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to be comprised or contained (usually followed byin ).
Her charm does not consist only in her beauty.
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Archaic. to exist together or be capable of existing together.
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Obsolete. to insist; urge.
noun
verb
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(foll by of) to be composed (of); be formed (of)
syrup consists of sugar and water
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to have its existence (in); lie (in); be expressed (by)
his religion consists only in going to church
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to be compatible or consistent; accord
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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consistsimple
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consistssimple
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have consistedperfect
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has consistedperfect
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am consistingprogressive
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are consistingprogressive
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is consistingprogressive
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have been consistingperfect progressive
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has been consistingperfect progressive
Past
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consistedsimple
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had consistedperfect
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was consistingprogressive
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were consistingprogressive
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had been consistingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of consist
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin consistere “to stand together, stand firm,” from con- con- + sistere “to stand, cause to stand”; see also stand, stasis, status
Explanation
Almost always used with the preposition "of," the verb consist means to be made up of, or composed of something. A heated conversation might consist of only two words: "yes" and "no." If you're talking about something that is made up of other things, consist is your word. A molecule consists of atoms and their bonds. Consist is often used in the past tense, so you're likely to hear it used in a sentence like "the game consisted of fourteen players and one stick." But you can use it in the present tense too. Grammar consists of many, many different rules, all of which are applied differently, depending on whether you're speaking or writing. The clubs all consist of singers, and singers only. If you play an instrument, look elsewhere, bud.
Vocabulary lists containing consist
Tier 2 Words for the SBAC ELA Items
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Because of Winn-Dixie
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Kinjo says that reefs flanking his seaside farm consist entirely of corals he cultivated, with their natural peers "no longer able to keep up with a tremendous increase in stress" in the anthropogenically polluted ocean.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
The money would consist primarily of disbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency flagged for communities hit by the fires, part of a $33.9-billion wildfire relief funding request made by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
These consist of five task forces—on communications, the Fed’s balance sheet, data sources, the effects of productivity changes on jobs and the economy, and the Fed’s inflation framework.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Unlike Earth's clouds, they would likely consist of minerals such as silicates rather than water droplets.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 11, 2026
What kind of exam could possibly consist of one question?
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Will she closely follow her predecessor's agenda or does she have different priorities for a city region which consists of 10 boroughs and is home to more than two million people?
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
He noted that for Mastercard’s customer base, which consists of financial-services players, the company’s open standard for stablecoins “provides direct participation, reduced dependency on third parties and the benefits of distributed economics.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
The instrument consists of two identical cameras designed to photograph asteroid Psyche in multiple wavelengths of light.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
It consists not only of college students booing AI and waddling seniors raging on Facebook against data centers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The oldest preserved Chinese writing of the late Shang Dynasty consists of religious divination about dynastic affairs, incised into so-called oracle bones.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Their analysis showed that the fossils consisted of an anterior trunk vertebra, a mid trunk vertebra, and a sacro-caudal vertebra.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
It initially consisted of 140 turbines but has been expanded twice to the current size.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
On the import side, India imported $11.7bn from the UK, and over 45% consisted of silver, which remains on India's exclusion list and is outside the agreement.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
The final summit declaration consisted of six concise paragraphs, mirroring the brevity of the 2025 Hague Summit declaration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Dunstan had done guard duty many times before, but hitherto his task had consisted of simply standing, and, on occasion, shooing away children.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
When the camera detects a violation, it generates an evidence package, consisting of the date, time and location, as well as still images.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
The forest sees 15 million visitors each year, making it vulnerable to fires -- quite apart from its sandy soil and vegetation consisting of ferns and highly flammable conifers.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
What he was most likely referring to was that he did not see his side have longer spells of possession consisting of lots of short passing, aimed at drawing Norway out.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Among the leading candidates is molybdenum disulfide, a material just three atoms thick, consisting of a layer of molybdenum between two layers of sulfur.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 17, 2026
When I visited with Ansel Brasseur, a former lead in Truman’s plays, he was partway through an MFA program at New York University, a “theater boot camp,” as he put it, consisting of fourteen-hour days.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
