consensus
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An agreement shared by most or all people in a group.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhnsehnsuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kənˈsɛnsəs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
General agreement among the members of a given group or community, each member of which exercises some discretion in decision-making and follow-up action.
A process of decision-making that seeks widespread agreement among group members.
attributive
Average projected value.
verb
ambitransitive
To seek consensus; to hold discussions with the aim of reaching mutual agreement.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: General agreement among the members of a given group or community, each member of which exercises some discretion in decision-making and follow-up action.
Used this way, consensus is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use consensus
- “The lack of consensus reflected differences in theoretical positions.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.