consonant

noun
/ˈkɒn.sə.nənt/UK/ˈkɑn.sə.nənt/US/ˈkɔnsɵnəɳʈ/

Etymology

From Middle English consonant or consonaunt, from Old French consonant, from Latin cōnsonāns (“sounding with”), from the prefix con- (“with”) + the present participle sonāns (“sounding”), from sonāre (“to sound”). The Latin is a calque of Ancient Greek σύμφωνον (súmphōnon).

  1. derived from σύμφωνον
  2. derived from cōnsonāns
  3. derived from consonant
  4. inherited from consonant

Definitions

  1. A sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity

    A sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity; any sound that is not the dominant sound of a syllable, the dominant sound generally being a vowel.

  2. A letter representing the sound of a consonant.

    • Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
    • “Tell me, has right anything to do with the law?” I asked. “You have used the wrong initial consonant,” he smiled in answer. “Might?” I queried; and he nodded his head.
  3. Consistent, harmonious, compatible, or in agreement.

    • Each one pretends that his opinion […] is consonant to the words there used.
    • Cheerfulness, even gaiety, is consonant with every species of virtue and practice of religion, and I think it inconsistent only with impiety and vice.
    • This essential right of the courts to be free of intimidation and coercion was held to be consonant with a recognition that freedom of the press must be allowed in the broadest scope compatible with the supremacy of order.
  4. + 3 more definitions
    1. Having the same sound.

      • 1645-1650, James Howell, Epistolae Ho-Elianae consonant words and syllables
    2. Harmonizing together

      Harmonizing together; accordant.

      • consonant tones; consonant chords
    3. Of or relating to consonants

      Of or relating to consonants; made up of, or containing many, consonants.

      • No Russian whose dissonant consonant name / Almost shatters to fragments the trumpet of fame.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at consonant. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01consonant02oral03examination04test05hearth06chimney07flame08gas09liquid

A definitional loop anchored at consonant. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at consonant

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA