consensus
n. · v.-
1 general agreement (n.) C1 Advanced Academic Formala general agreement among a group of people.
general agreement or concord among the members of a group or community.
ExampleAfter a long discussion, the committee finally reached a consensus on the new rules.
ExampleThe scientific consensus regarding climate change has strengthened significantly over the last decade as more empirical data has become available.
UsageOften used with the verbs 'reach', 'build', or 'achieve'.
PitfallThe group reached to a consensus.The group reached a consensus.The verb 'reach' is transitive here; do not use the preposition 'to' before the noun.
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2 computing agreement (n.) C2 Proficiency Technical Computingan agreement on a specific piece of data during a computer process.
the process of achieving agreement on a single data value among distributed processes or systems.
ExampleThe servers must reach a consensus before the transaction can be completed.
ExampleDistributed ledgers rely on a consensus mechanism to ensure that every node in the network maintains an identical copy of the database.
UsageCommonly appears in the phrase 'consensus mechanism' or 'consensus algorithm'.
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3 to seek agreement (v.) C2 Proficiency Formalto talk with others in order to reach a group agreement.
to engage in discussions or negotiations with the specific intent of reaching a collective agreement.
ExampleThe leaders spent the afternoon consensusing on the final version of the treaty.
ExampleThe board members spent several hours consensusing the proposed budget before putting it to a formal vote.
UsageThis verb use is much less common than the noun form and is restricted to highly formal or bureaucratic contexts.
Borrowed from Latin cōnsēnsus (“agreement, accordance, unanimity”), from cōnsentiō (“feel together; agree”); see consent.
- Nounconsensus
- Adjectiveconsensual