consult
Americanverb (used with object)
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consults,
present (3rd person singular)
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consulted,
past participle, past
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consulting
present participle
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to seek advice or information from; ask guidance from.
Consult your lawyer before signing the contract.
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to refer to for information.
Consult your dictionary for the spelling of the word.
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to have regard for (a person's interest, convenience, etc.) in making plans.
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Obsolete. to meditate, plan, or contrive.
verb (used without object)
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consults,
present (3rd person singular)
-
consulted,
past participle, past
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consulting
present participle
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to consider or deliberate; take counsel; confer (usually followed bywith ).
He consulted with his doctor.
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to give professional or expert advice; serve as consultant.
noun
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a consultation.
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Archaic. a secret meeting, especially one for seditious purposes.
verb
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to ask advice from (someone); confer with (someone)
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(tr) to refer to for information
to consult a map
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(tr) to have regard for (a person's feelings, interests, etc) in making decisions or plans; consider
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(intr) to make oneself available to give professional advice, esp at scheduled times and for a fee
Synonym Usage
Consult, confer imply talking over a situation or a subject with someone to decide points in doubt. To consult is to seek from a presumably qualified person or source advice, opinion, etc.: to consult an authority. To confer is to exchange views: The partners conferred concerning their business.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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consultsimple
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consultssimple
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have consultedperfect
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has consultedperfect
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am consultingprogressive
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are consultingprogressive
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is consultingprogressive
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have been consultingperfect progressive
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has been consultingperfect progressive
Past
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consultedsimple
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had consultedperfect
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was consultingprogressive
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were consultingprogressive
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had been consultingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of consult
First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French consulter, from Latin consultāre “to deliberate,” literally, “to advise repeatedly,” from consulere “to advise, consider, seek advice from”; cf. consul
Explanation
To consult is to give or get help or advice. When you don't know the meaning of a word, you consult a dictionary. That's why you're here, right? People making a big decision will usually consult their family and friends. To consult can also mean a type of professional advice: a consultant is a freelance worker paid to help a business out with something. Consulting is a complicated word that can mean to give or receive advice. When in doubt, find someone you trust to consult.
Vocabulary lists containing consult
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 1–6
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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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:
The bill would have directed state agencies to recognize historical inequities affecting tribes, and to consult with them on water projects, plans and policies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
He stresses: "No one should get their health advice from Instagram - far safer to use the NHS website, or consult your GP."
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Commerce says it will consult with the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
As with so many land mines in our broken healthcare system, having a reliable and trustworthy practitioner to consult and query regarding the reality of compounded medications is the best solution.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
“We will take six months to consult with the relevant authorities, as is procedure, and let you know what is decided.”
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
The freight company he consults for runs eight medium-size trucks each burning 40 to 60 gallons a day, and Litchfield estimates that it currently pays an extra $480 to $640 a day on fuel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Arne Olson, a senior partner with Energy and Environmental Economics who consults on California’s energy planning, said replacing the plant with clean energy may have looked “eminently doable in 2016,” and is probably feasible today.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
The 67-year-old breast cancer survivor, who consults on sustainable textiles and runs a small farmers market, would never have her own property sprayed with pesticides, but admits to having envied neighbors who did.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
He told MarketWatch that he still consults with Nicholas Galluccio, who was the portfolio manager of the fund from 2008 until Gabelli took over.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Aunt J consults her about her love life all the time.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Executives from ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, Phillips 66 and their lobbyists consulted Trump’s team on diesel supplies in recent days, advising the administration to pursue alternatives to an outright export ban, some of those people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Statisticians I have consulted insist that it’s almost certainly a coincidence that those three particularly terrible months for the market happened to occur in October.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
"The value in this project is practically unquantifiable," said Berkeley archaeology graduate student Leah Packard-Grams, who consulted on the project as a papyrologist.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
Fans were not consulted and no alternative stadium was put in place.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
She consulted the slim black tablet she held for a moment and then sighed.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Cordova also shared an independent report the company commissioned from consulting firm Roux Associates, which he said “found no evidence in the administrative record ... demonstrating that the site adversely affects public health.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
ITHACA, N.Y.—On a drizzly Thursday, Cornell University students wandered into consulting recruitment sessions, hustled up the slopes to midterms and listened to a Pulitzer-winning fiction writer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
The energy consulting firm expects capacity to slide to 17.45 million barrels a day this year.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
IBM stock rebounds from a five-day slump after Accenture’s solid earnings signal resilience in tech consulting amid AI disruption fears.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
After resisting the idea of abdominal surgery for years, he had finally relented after consulting with Snell, but now he seemed to be looking ahead to a more distant prospect.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
