consequential
Americanadjective
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following as an effect, result, or outcome; resultant; consequent.
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following as a logical conclusion or inference; logically consistent.
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of significance or importance.
His writings offer insight into his personality, opinions, and strengths, and show early evidence of the consequential man he would become.
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having important effects or results.
Being a lawyer, I knew that a consequential decision should not depend on an informal phone conversation.
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Archaic. self-important; pompous.
adjective
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important or significant
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self-important; conceited
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following as a consequence; resultant, esp indirectly
consequential loss
Usage
Although both consequential and consequent can refer to something which happens as the result of something else, consequent is more common in this sense in modern English: the new measures were put into effect, and the consequent protest led to the dismissal of those responsible
Other Word Forms
- consequentiality noun
- consequentially adverb
- consequentialness noun
- nonconsequential adjective
- nonconsequentiality noun
- nonconsequentially adverb
- nonconsequentialness noun
- quasi-consequential adjective
- quasi-consequentially adverb
Etymology
Origin of consequential
First recorded in 1620–30; from Latin consequenti(a) “sequence (of events), logical sequence” + -al adjective suffix; consequence, -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Search results reveal substantial evidence that voter reaction to scandals remains consequential and materially affects electoral viability.
From Los Angeles Times
Even more consequential was the trust that the Barbers placed in Marshall Stearns, who had an academic pedigree in medieval literature and a subsuming interest in the ethnomusicology of jazz.
In work with our Hoover Institution colleague Daniel Heil, we’ve documented that key assumptions remain hidden, model revisions are made without explanation, and even politically consequential scores rely on unpublished or soon-to-change methods.
Leo’s most consequential outreach has been within the Catholic Church itself.
One of the most consequential of the economic reports delayed by the 43-day federal government shutdown finally arrives on Tuesday.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
