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Consult vs Referral - What's the difference?

consult | referral |

As nouns the difference between consult and referral

is that consult is (obsolete): the act of consulting or deliberating; consultation; also, the result of consultation; determination; decision while referral is the act or process of transferring someone or something to another, of sending by reference, or referring.

As a verb consult

is to seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer.

consult

English

Alternative forms

* consultation (Only noun form in UK)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete): The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation; also, the result of consultation; determination; decision.
    • The council broke; And all grave consults dissolved in smoke. -.
  • (obsolete): A council; a meeting for consultation.
    • A consult of coquettes. -.
  • (obsolete): Agreement; concert.
  • (US): A visit, e.g. to a doctor; a consultation.

    • Usage notes

    * The noun consult is avoided in British English, favoring consultation instead. In AmE, they are merely synonyms.

    Synonyms

    * consultation

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer.
    • 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. - .
  • 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.
    • Men forgot, or feared, to consult''' ... ; they were content to '''consult libraries. - .
  • To have reference to, in judging or acting; to have regard to; to consider; as, to consult one's wishes.
    • We are ... to consult the necessities of life, rather than matters of ornament and delight. -L'Estrange.
  • (obsolete): To deliberate upon; to take for.
    • Many things were there consulted for the future, yet nothing was positively resolved. -.
  • (obsolete): To bring about by counsel or contrivance; to devise; to contrive.
    • Thou hast consulted shame to thy use by cutting off many people. - Bible, Heb. ii. 10.

    Related terms

    * consultancy * consultant * consultation * consultative (Webster 1913)

    External links

    * * English heteronyms

    referral

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act or process of transferring someone or something to another, of sending by reference, or referring.
    • The insurance company insists I get a referral from my regular doctor, I can't just go to the specialist, a GP has got to refer me.
  • (slang) A document used by schools detailing some form of a student's misbehavior and listing the actions taken before and after the student's receipt of the referral.
    • After misbehaving in class, George was given a referral for disrupting class and sent to the office.