Consonant
adj, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 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 speech sound that is not a vowel wordnet
- 3 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."
- 4 a letter of the alphabet standing for a spoken consonant wordnet
- 1 Consistent, harmonious, compatible, or in agreement.
"Each one pretends that his opinion […] is consonant to the words there used."
- 2 Having the same sound.
"1645-1650, James Howell, Epistolae Ho-Elianae consonant words and syllables"
- 3 Harmonizing together; accordant.
"consonant tones; consonant chords"
- 4 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."
- 1 in keeping wordnet
- 2 involving or characterized by harmony wordnet
Example
More examples"Liaison occurs in spoken French when a word which ends with a consonant that is normally not pronounced is followed by a word which begins with a vowel. In these cases, the consonant is sometimes pronounced as if it were at the beginning of the following word."
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).
Related phrases
More for "consonant"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.