# consensus

/kənˈsɛnsəs/ (US) · /kənsˈɛnsəs/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/consensus
Updated: 2026-07-19

## Senses

### 1. general agreement

noun · CEFR C1 · Academic · Formal

a general agreement among a group of people.

For teachers: general agreement or concord among the members of a group or community.

- After a long discussion, the committee finally reached a consensus on the new rules.
- The scientific consensus regarding climate change has strengthened significantly over the last decade as more empirical data has become available.

Usage: Often used with the verbs 'reach', 'build', or 'achieve'.

### 2. computing agreement

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

an agreement on a specific piece of data during a computer process.

For teachers: the process of achieving agreement on a single data value among distributed processes or systems.

- The servers must reach a consensus before the transaction can be completed.
- Distributed ledgers rely on a consensus mechanism to ensure that every node in the network maintains an identical copy of the database.

Usage: Commonly appears in the phrase 'consensus mechanism' or 'consensus algorithm'.

### 3. to seek agreement

verb · CEFR C2 · Formal

to talk with others in order to reach a group agreement.

For teachers: to engage in discussions or negotiations with the specific intent of reaching a collective agreement.

- The leaders spent the afternoon consensusing on the final version of the treaty.
- The board members spent several hours consensusing the proposed budget before putting it to a formal vote.

Usage: This verb use is much less common than the noun form and is restricted to highly formal or bureaucratic contexts.

## Examples

- The committee finally reached a consensus on the new rules.
- After hours of debate, the board members reached a consensus to increase the marketing budget for the next quarter.
- In distributed computing, achieving consensus among multiple nodes is essential for maintaining a consistent state across the network, especially when some components may fail or provide conflicting information.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.