consortium
Americannoun
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consortia,
plural
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consortiums
plural
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a combination of financial institutions, capitalists, etc., for carrying into effect some financial operation requiring large resources of capital.
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any association, partnership, or union.
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Law. the legal right of partners in a marriage to companionship and conjugal intercourse with each other.
In a wrongful death action the surviving spouse commonly seeks damages for loss of consortium.
noun
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an association of financiers, companies, etc, esp one formed for a particular purpose
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law the right of husband or wife to the company, assistance, and affection of the other
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of consortium
1820–30; < Latin: partnership, equivalent to consort- consort + -ium -ium
Explanation
Consortium is a fancy word for a group you form for an enterprise beyond what any one member could do alone. All the grocery stores in your neighborhood might form a consortium for the promotion of local strawberries. Consortium comes from the verb consort, which means "to accompany or associate." Consortium used to mean "fellowship, participation, society," but these days you're more likely to hear consortium for an association of different institutions like schools or companies than, say, a consortium of philosophical frog lovers. Still, consortiums usually preserve the ideals of fellowship, with every member institution chipping in to reach a common goal.
Vocabulary lists containing consortium
The Boys in the Boat
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"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 25
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The Gene
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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:
On Tuesday, a consortium of state bankers associations unveiled their plans to launch a blockchain platform built for, owned and governed by banks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
A consortium of state bankers associations plans to launch BankChain Alliance, a blockchain platform supporting stablecoins, in the first half of 2027.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
The 49ers were part of the US consortium who took control of Rangers last year but York is not involved in the day-to-day running of the club.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
The construction consortium was headed by Fluor Corp., a leading construction firm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
While attempting to isolate enough of the compounds in the cockroaches, an international consortium of scientists develops revolutionary technologies to increase the size of the cockroaches through genetic manipulation.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
But consortia funding these projects include publicly traded companies.
From Barron's ● Apr. 12, 2026
"Most large atlases like this require large consortia with dozens of laboratories but our method is far more efficient than other approaches."
From Science Daily ● Feb. 28, 2026
Many of the listed entities weren’t treaty organizations of which the U.S. was formally a member but rather funds, conferences or informal consortia that a country could participate in or not, carrying no obligations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026
Financial institutions are now forming consortia for cross-border settlement.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 16, 2026
The federally funded research center employs about 830 staff, making it one of the largest consortia of scientists who study weather, climate and Earth systems using advanced models and supercomputers in the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
As the model continues to grow across the game globally, it remains to be seen just how consortiums will adapt to manage all of their assets, and whether fans will continue to accept it.
From Barron's ● Jan. 6, 2026
Rolls Royce beat two American consortiums in the competition, Holtec, GE Hitachi.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2025
The legacy media is facing all kinds of financial reversals, and I think it’s tied up in the ownership of a lot of papers by big corporate consortiums who have to worry about their shareholders.
From Slate ● Dec. 11, 2024
“Should there be need for more capital, he’s somebody who’s very adept at putting consortiums together.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 16, 2024
Those companies formed consortiums with PGZ and its subsidiaries, which signed the final deal with the Polish government, he said.
From Reuters ● May 29, 2023
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.
