consortium
Americannoun
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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.
In February, Swiss commodities giant Glencore signed a memorandum of understanding with the US-led Orion Critical Mineral Consortium to grant the latter a potential 40-percent stake in the Swiss conglomerate's mining assets in the DRC.
From Barron's • Jun. 26, 2026
The Met, British Retail Consortium and Retail Trust have jointly written to the Home Office and Ministry of Justice to call for fast-track courts so repeat offenders appear within 72 hours of charge.
From BBC • Jun. 18, 2026
In 2024, the FlyWire Consortium, led by Mala Murthy and Sebastian Seung at Princeton, who are also co-authors of the new study, published a complete connectome of a fruit fly brain.
From Science Daily • Jun. 10, 2026
Visits to retail shops dropped 10.7% on year in April, the weakest performance in more than five years, according to a report from the British Retail Consortium.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
One year later, the OCW Consortium included the courses of 100 universities worldwide.
From Technology and Books for All by Lebert, Marie
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.
