Consult vs Confer - What's the difference?
consult | confer |
(obsolete): The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation; also, the result of consultation; determination; decision.
(obsolete): A council; a meeting for consultation.
(obsolete): Agreement; concert.
(US): A visit, e.g. to a doctor; a consultation.
To seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer.
To advise or offer expertise.
To work as a consultant or contractor rather than as a full-time employee of a firm.
To ask advice of; to seek the opinion of; to apply to for information or instruction; to refer to; as, to consult a physician; to consult a dictionary.
To have reference to, in judging or acting; to have regard to; to consider; as, to consult one's wishes.
(obsolete): To deliberate upon; to take for.
(obsolete): To bring about by counsel or contrivance; to devise; to contrive.
(obsolete) To compare.
* 1557 (book title):
*, II.3.1.i:
* Boyle
To talk together, to consult, discuss; to deliberate.
* 1974 , "A Traveler's Perils", Time , 25 Mar 1974:
(obsolete) To bring together; to collect, gather.
To grant as a possession; to bestow.
* Milton
* 2010 , Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer , 7 Feb 2010:
(obsolete) To contribute; to conduce.
* Glanvill
In intransitive terms the difference between consult and confer
is that consult is to work as a consultant or contractor rather than as a full-time employee of a firm while confer is to talk together, to consult, discuss; to deliberate.In transitive terms the difference between consult and confer
is that consult is to have reference to, in judging or acting; to have regard to; to consider; as, to consult one's wishes while confer is to grant as a possession; to bestow.As a noun consult
is : The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation; also, the result of consultation; determination; decision.consult
English
Alternative forms
* consultation (Only noun form in UK)Noun
(en noun)- The council broke; And all grave consults dissolved in smoke. -.
- A consult of coquettes. -.
Usage notes
* The noun consult is avoided in British English, favoring consultation instead. In AmE, they are merely synonyms.Synonyms
* consultationVerb
(en verb)- Let us consult upon to-morrow's business. -
- All the laws of England have been made by the kings of England, consulting with the nobility and commons. - .
- Men forgot, or feared, to consult''' ... ; they were content to '''consult libraries. - .
- We are ... to consult the necessities of life, rather than matters of ornament and delight. -L'Estrange.
- Many things were there consulted for the future, yet nothing was positively resolved. -.
- Thou hast consulted shame to thy use by cutting off many people. - Bible, Heb. ii. 10.
External links
* * English heteronymsconfer
English
Verb
(conferr)- The Newe Testament ... Conferred diligently with the Greke, and best approued translations.
- Confer thine estate with others […]. Be content and rest satisfied, for thou art well in respect to others […].
- If we confer these observations with others of the like nature, we may find cause to rectify the general opinion.
- Local buttons popped when Henry Kissinger visited Little Rock last month to confer with Fulbright on the Middle East oil talks.
- the public marks of honour and reward conferred upon me
- The special immunities that are conferred on MPs were framed with the essential purpose of allowing them to speak freely in parliament.
- The closeness and compactness of the parts resting together doth much confer to the strength of the union.