Inquiry vs Consult - What's the difference?
inquiry | consult |
The act of inquiring; a seeking of information by asking questions; interrogation; a question or questioning.
Search for truth, information, or knowledge; examination of facts or principles; research; investigation; as, physical inquiries.
(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.
As nouns the difference between inquiry and consult
is that inquiry is the act of inquiring; a seeking of information by asking questions; interrogation; a question or questioning while consult is : The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation; also, the result of consultation; determination; decision.As a verb consult is
to seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer.inquiry
English
(wikipedia inquiry)Alternative forms
* enquiryNoun
(inquiries)Usage notes
According to Fowler's Modern English Usage'' (1926), ''inquiry'' should be used in relation to a formal inquest, and ''enquiry'' to the act of questioning. Many (though not all) British writers maintain this distinction; the Oxford English Dictionary, in its entry not updated since 1900, lists ''inquiry'' and ''enquiry'' as equal alternatives, in that order. Some British dictionaries, such as ''Chambers 21st Century Dictionary'' [http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chref.py/main?title=21st&query=inquiry], present the two spellings as interchangeable variants in the general sense, but prefer ''inquiry'' for the "formal inquest" sense. In Australian English, ''inquiry'' represents a formal inquest (such as a government investigation) while ''enquiry'' is used in the act of questioning (eg: the customer enquired about the status of his loan application). Both spellings are current in Canadian English, where ''enquiry'' is often associated with scholarly or intellectual research. (See Pam Peters, ''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage , p. 282.) American English usually uses inquiry .References
*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.
