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Spouse vs Consort - What's the difference?

spouse | consort |

As nouns the difference between spouse and consort

is that spouse is a person's husband or wife while consort is the spouse of a monarch.

As verbs the difference between spouse and consort

is that spouse is to wed; to espouse while consort is to associate or keep company.

As a proper noun Consort is

a village in Alberta, Canada.

spouse

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A person's husband or wife.
    • People should treat their spouses with respect.
  • * Spenser
    • At last such grace I found, and means I wrought, / That I that lady to my spouse had won.

    Derived terms

    * spousal (pos a)

    Verb

  • (dated) To wed; to espouse.
  • * 1819 , , Otho the Great , Act III, Scene II, verses 212-214
    • Do you stand possess’d
    Of any proof against the honourableness
    Of Lady Auranthe, our new-spoused daughter?

    Anagrams

    *

    consort

    English

    Noun

  • The spouse of a monarch.
  • A husband, wife, companion or partner.
  • * Dryden
    • He single chose to live, and shunned to wed, / Well pleased to want a consort of his bed.
  • * Thackeray
    • The consort of the queen has passed from this troubled sphere.
  • * Darwin
    • the snow-white gander, invariably accompanied by his darker consort
  • A ship accompanying another.
  • (uncountable) Association or partnership.
  • * Atterbury
    • Take it singly, and it carries an air of levity; but, in consort with the rest, has a meaning quite different.
  • A group or company, especially of musicians playing the same type of instrument.
  • * Spenser
    • In one consort there sat / Cruel revenge and rancorous despite, / Disloyal treason, and heart-burning hate.
  • * Herbert
    • Lord, place me in thy consort .
  • (obsolete) Harmony of sounds; concert, as of musical instruments.
  • * Spenser
    • To make a sad consort , / Come, let us join our mournful song with theirs.
    (Milton)

    Synonyms

    * companion, escort * (sense) association, partnership * (group of musicians) band, group

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To associate or keep company.
  • * 1961 , J. A. Philip, "Mimesis in the Sophistês'' of Plato," ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association , vol. 92, p. 457,
    • Being itself inferior and consorting with an inferior faculty it begets inferior offspring.
  • To be in agreement.
  • To associate or unite in company with.
  • * Dryden
    • Which of the Grecian chiefs consorts with thee?

    Synonyms

    * (associate or keep company) hang out (slang) * (be in agreement) agree, concur * (associate or unite in company with) associate, hang out (slang)

    Anagrams

    * English heteronyms ----