consortium

noun

con·​sor·​tium kən-ˈsȯr-sh(ē-)əm 

-ˈsȯr-tē-əm

plural consortia kən-ˈsȯr-sh(ē-)ə 

-ˈsȯr-tē-ə

also consortiums

1

: an agreement, combination, or group (as of companies) formed to undertake an enterprise beyond the resources of any one member

A consortium of researchers decoded the honeybee genome.

2

: association, society

3

: the legal right of one spouse to the company, affection, and assistance of and to sexual relations with the other

Synonyms

• association
• board
• brotherhood
• chamber
• club
• college
• congress
• council
• fellowship
• fraternity
• guild
• gild
• institute
• institution
• league
• order
• organization
• society
• sodality

Examples of consortium in a Sentence

A Japanese consortium invested millions in the technology.

a consortium for the prevention of animal cruelty

Recent Examples on the Web

The nine couples who came forward Tuesday are suing on multiple grounds, including negligence; medical battery; concealment; intentional misrepresentation; negligent misrepresentation; negligent hiring, retention and supervision; and loss of consortium, and are seeking a jury trial. —Nadine El-Bawab, ABC News, 23 Apr. 2024

Now, Express has received a bid to be acquired by a consortium. —Alina Selyukh, NPR, 22 Apr. 2024

The letter was signed by a consortium of broadcast, cable and print outlets, including ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, NBC News, NewsNation, Univision, NPR, PBS NewsHour and USA Today. —Hadas Gold, CNN, 14 Apr. 2024

The consortium of armed gangs Chérizier leads says that Haiti has been controlled by corrupt politicians, dating back at least to the devastating earthquake in 2010 that killed about 220,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless. —Patrick Smith, NBC News, 29 Mar. 2024

Nielsen was purchased in 2022 by a private equity consortium for $16 billion. —Brian Steinberg, Variety, 21 Mar. 2024

Henry was forced to resign last month by Washington at the insistence of Caribbean Community leaders, who had grown weary of him as a powerful consortium of gangs demanded his ouster. —Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 12 Apr. 2024

The Thursday demonstration was one of several events this week across Claremont Colleges — a consortium of five undergraduate and two graduate colleges where Pomona is the oldest. —Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2024

Meta’s lawyers believed if things did end up in litigation they would be covered by a 2015 case Google won against a consortium of authors. —Paolo Confino, Fortune, 9 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin, fellowship, from consort-, consors — see consort entry 1

First Known Use

1829, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Legal Definition

consortium

noun

con·​sor·​tium kən-ˈsȯr-shəm; -shē-əm 

plural consortia -shə, -shē-ə  also consortiums

1

: an agreement, combination, or group (as of companies) formed to undertake an enterprise beyond the resources of any one member

2

[Medieval Latin, marital partnership, from Latin] : the right of one spouse to the company, affection, and assistance of and to sexual relations with the other

also : the right of a parent or child to the company, affection, and assistance of the other

suing for loss of consortium

compare society

Etymology

Latin, sharing, partnership, from consort-, consors sharer, partner