consort

1 of 3

noun (1)

con·sort ˈkän-ˌsȯrt

Synonyms of consort next

: associate

the criminal and his consorts

: a ship accompanying another

… he could see the brown sail and the red sail of their consorts …—

C. S. Forester

: spouse compare prince consort, queen consort

consort

2 of 3

noun (2)

: conjunction, association

He ruled in consort with his father.

: group, assembly

a consort of specialists

: a group of singers or instrumentalists performing together

: a set of musical instruments of the same family

consort

3 of 3

verb

con·sort kən-ˈsȯrt

kän-ˈsȯrt,

ˈkän-ˌsȯrt

consorted; consorting; consorts

transitive verb

: unite, associate

obsolete : escort

intransitive verb

: to keep company

consorting with criminals

obsolete : to make harmony : play

: accord, harmonize

The illustrations consort admirably with the text.—

The Times Literary Supplement (London)

Examples of consort in a Sentence

Verb at college she began consorting with drug users, eventually becoming an addict herself the restaurant's sophisticated menu consorts seamlessly with its sleek, modern ambience

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

After a string of hospitalizations, Prince Philip — the longest-serving British consort — announced his retirement from royal duties in April 2017. —

Janine Henni, Peoplemag, 6 Sep. 2023 And like the consorts who came before her, she was expected to abide by the strict rules and schedules, pomp and circumstance, that defined life at court. —

Leena Kim, Town & Country, 17 July 2023 Preceding Adès on the first half was viol consort music by Byrd, Dowland, Orlando Gibbons, and Henry Purcell played without vibrato by Marwood, Kenny, and Itzkoff, with Maiya Papach and Itsuki Yamamoto on violas, and the addition of Anri Tsukji on cello. —

Christian Hertzog, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Aug. 2023 Most lord mayors have had a partner or spouse to act as their official consort. —

Saskia Solomon, New York Times, 23 June 2023 Liliʻuokalani, then still a princess, attended the festivities with Queen Kapiʻolani (1834-1899), the consort of her brother King Kalākaua. —

Kate C. Lemay, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 July 2023 Starting in the early days of her fame as muse and consort to the musical artist Serge Gainsbourg, Ms. Birkin was perennially dressed in exactly the right nothing. —

Guy Trebay, New York Times, 16 July 2023 The Queen Mary crown has instead been reset with the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds, in tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth, Buckingham Palace said, adding that this was the first time in history and existing crown was being used for the coronation of a consort. —

Leila Sackur, NBC News, 6 May 2023 Queen Camilla will wear her own consort's ring (a large ruby surrounded by diamonds) that William IV had commissioned for his wife Adelaide, and which has since been passed down the line of consorts, from Alexandra to the Queen Mother. —

Leena Kim, Town & Country, 5 May 2023

Verb

In Riley’s world, the women who consort with such men have been emptied of their confidence and are merely mimicking the men’s aggressive insistence with their own passive-aggressive survivalism. —

James Wood, The New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2023 Pandemic scofflaws like this man are making decisions for other people — people who might not have chosen, say, to consort with the unvaccinated. —

New York Times, 15 Mar. 2022 But he is detested by western militiamen, and is also known to consort with extremists. —

Alessandra Bocchi, WSJ, 13 July 2021 Not all biographers truly consort with creativity, but Lee does, so her books have a creativity of their own, deepening and sometimes altering one’s sense of the individual talent. —

Andrew O’Hagan, The New York Review of Books, 13 Apr. 2021 Was Oswald a kind of rogue James Bond who went south of the border to consort with communists, Cuban revolutionaries and spies – or just a deranged killer? —

Gonzalo Soltero, The Conversation, 19 Nov. 2020 When that’s the case, passengers with TSA PreCheck must consort with the commoners in the standard line. —

Laura Kiniry, Outside Online, 9 Mar. 2015 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'consort.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.