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
-
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:
By making Monday's result non-binding, she got around a court decision blocking the pro-separation petition because it failed to consult indigenous First Nations whose land would be affected if the province separated.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
Now, the trust only has to consult the company when filling vacancies, of which there are two currently.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
"It's important that allies continue to consult, think about how we might respond, and make sure that we message clearly and concisely to the Russians where our red lines are," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
Before the torch is lit in Los Angeles in 2028, make sure to consult Slate’s list of every Olympic event, ranked from worst to best, compiled by Mike Canter.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026
Dallben, he knew, would consult Hen Wen only on a matter of greatest urgency.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
Eric Potma, a UC Irvine chemistry professor who consults for the company, told Wired this week that its technology is worth exploring despite significant technical challenges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 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
Unlike the rest of us, Tsimerman also consults AI while writing math papers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
In addition to joining local fire safety advisory boards, Cantey reached out to a mining company she consults for, which specialises in underground refuge chambers.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
“Are you all right . . .” He consults his notes.
From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
He spent some evenings going over it, then consulted Japanese patent engineer Satoshi Tomokiyo, who maintains an online list of unsolved ciphers, to verify it.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
“We have high-school students who are often consulted, but not often heard,” Geffray said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Fire officials then consulted a map and instructed the Office of Emergency Management to send an evacuation order for most areas west of Lake Avenue — the dividing line between west and east Altadena.
From Los Angeles Times ● 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
We met with the district attorney, filed papers with the judge, and consulted with a variety of local officials in an effort to achieve a new, constitutionally acceptable sentence.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Tronieri disclosed receiving an investigator-initiated grant from Novo Nordisk on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania, along with consulting fees from Currax Pharmaceuticals, LLC.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
New Mexico sued the company in 2021 after revelations surfaced that a U.K. political consulting firm had harvested millions of Facebook users’ personal data without their consent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
Cambridge Analytica was a political consulting firm found to have improperly harvested personal data from millions of Facebook users for targeted political advertising, notably during the 2016 US presidential election.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
It believes the iPhone maker's current fees and charges are "blocking" financial technology firms and others from innovating and growing - and is consulting on proposals it believes would cause these fees to fall.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
After consulting with his partner Caesar said, “We’ll take the next one.”
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
