consultant
Americannoun
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a person who gives professional or expert advice.
a consultant on business methods.
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a person who consults someone or something.
noun
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a senior physician, esp a specialist, who is asked to confirm a diagnosis or treatment or to provide an opinion
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a physician or surgeon holding the highest appointment in a particular branch of medicine or surgery in a hospital
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a specialist who gives expert advice or information
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a person who asks advice in a consultation
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of consultant
First recorded in 1690–1700; from French or directly from Latin consultant- (stem of consultāns, present participle of consultāre “to take counsel”); see origin at consult, -ant
Explanation
A consultant is an expert in a particular field. Sometimes a business will rely on the guidance of a consultant to help change its image. How did the word consultant come about? Consult dates to the 1520s and comes from the French word consultare, meaning "take advice of." The related noun consultant, to mean someone qualified to give advice, is believed to have first appeared in an 1893 Sherlock Holmes story.
Vocabulary lists containing consultant
The Westing Game
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The Lemonade War
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 6
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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.
Ellen Weinberg-Hughes is a Player Development Consultant for the U.S. women’s hockey team, which also won gold.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2026
Professor Asma Khalil, Professor of Obstetrics and Maternal Fetal Medicine at City St George's, University of London and Consultant Obstetrician, led the study and addressed why earlier research may have raised alarms.
From Science Daily • Jan. 19, 2026
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Denzel Mitchell, who worked at St James' Hospital, said the decision to discharge was made in large part because Mr Stone-Houghton had not self-harmed or had psychotic episodes on the ward.
From BBC • Dec. 15, 2025
He has worked as an analyst at McKinsey Co., and is a Chartered Financial Consultant.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 26, 2025
About a year ago you returned, and was hired as Research Consultant in the laboratories of the Carmack Foundation.
From We're Friends, Now by Varga, Mel
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.
