consensus — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A process of decision-making that seeks widespread agreement among group members.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

2. General agreement among the members of a given group or community, each member of which exercises some discretion in decision-making and follow-up action.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   reach consensus

   After years of debate over the best wine to serve at Thanksgiving, no real consensus has emerged.

3. An agreement on some data value that is needed during computation.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

4. Average projected value.

   Usage

   • attributive
   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   a financial consensus forecast

Verb

1. To seek consensus; to hold discussions with the aim of reaching mutual agreement.

   Usage

   • Transitive or intransitive

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   I think we are a strongly consensused society. There was a consensus during the 1950's, the Eisenhower years, in our society. Then in the 1960's came a period of division.

   None of this consensusing was done with the Manual. There were no national workshops, forums, etc.

Noun

1. agreement in the judgment or opinion reached by a group as a whole

   Broader terms

   agreementaccord

   Examples

   the lack of consensus reflected differences in theoretical positions

   those rights and obligations are based on an unstated consensus