Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Being in agreement or accord.
- adjective Corresponding or alike in sound, as words or syllables.
- adjective Harmonious in sound or tone.
- noun A speech sound produced by a partial or complete obstruction of the air stream by any of various constrictions of the speech organs, such as (p), (f), (r), (w), and (h).
- noun A letter or character representing such a speech sound.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Sounding together; agreeing in sound; specifically, in music, having an agreeable and complete or final effect: said of a combination of sounds.
- Having or emitting like sounds.
- Harmonious; agreeing; congruous; consistent: followed generally by to, sometimes by with: as, this rule is consonant to Scripture and reason.
- [Attrib. use of noun.] Consisting of or relating to consonants; consonantal.
- noun An alphabetic element other than a vowel; one of the closer, less resonant and continuable, of the sounds making up a spoken alphabet; an articulate utterance which is combined, to form a syllable, with another opener utterance called a vowel.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Having agreement; congruous; consistent; according; -- usually followed by
with orto . - adjective Having like sounds.
- adjective (Mus.) harmonizing together; accordant.
- adjective Of or pertaining to consonants; made up of, or containing many, consonants.
- noun An articulate sound which in utterance is usually combined and sounded with an open sound called a vowel; a member of the spoken alphabet other than a vowel; also, a letter or character representing such a sound.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun phonetics 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 avowel . - noun A letter representing the sound of a consonant.
- adjective Characterized by
harmony oragreement .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a speech sound that is not a vowel
- adjective involving or characterized by harmony
- noun a letter of the alphabet standing for a spoken consonant
- adjective in keeping
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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If the last letter of the stem is a consonant, the word is said to have a _consonant stem_; if the stem ends in «-i-», the word is said to have an «i-»_stem_.
Latin for Beginners Benjamin Leonard D'Ooge 1900
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Before a vowel in the same syllable it has the value of a consonant and is called _I consonant_.
Latin for Beginners Benjamin Leonard D'Ooge 1900
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The Spanish tendency to add an intrusive e to English words that begin with s [consonant] is well known, as is its consequential effect on the article which leads to people saying an estation, an estatistic etc.
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The Spanish tendency to add an intrusive e to English words that begin with s [consonant] is well known, as is its consequential effect on the article which leads to people saying an estation, an estatistic etc.
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The Spanish tendency to add an intrusive e to English words that begin with s [consonant] is well known, as is its consequential effect on the article which leads to people saying an estation, an estatistic etc.
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That's because English favors closed syllables (ending in consonant) while French prefers open syllables (ending in a vowel).
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Thus, a syllable containing a short vowel followed by two consonants, as ng, is long, because such a syllable requires _more time_ for its pronunciation; while a syllable containing a short vowel followed by one consonant is short, because it takes _less time_ to pronounce it.
New Latin Grammar Charles E. Bennett
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In monosyllables a single vowel before a single consonant is short; as stag, frog.
A Grammar of the English Tongue Samuel Johnson 1746
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The English norm was to simplify to a single consonant, which is what we find with commissionaire and concessionaire, presumably following the pattern of the much earlier borrowing debonair, and also doctrinaire, which are recorded for the most part with a single n.
On one n or two DC 2008
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The English norm was to simplify to a single consonant, which is what we find with commissionaire and concessionaire, presumably following the pattern of the much earlier borrowing debonair, and also doctrinaire, which are recorded for the most part with a single n.
Archive 2008-02-01 DC 2008
Jubjub commented on the word consonant
That dirty little bug would swindle his own child.
December 25, 2009
jwjarvis commented on the word consonant
Rapid removal of acetylcholine from the circulation would inactivate parasympathetic stimulation of digestive secretion consonant with rapid arousal of the animal in an emergency
September 2, 2010
Xina54 commented on the word consonant
–adjective
# Being in agreement or accord: remarks consonant with our own beliefs.
(as well as not vowel)
March 7, 2011
bilby commented on the word consonant
Bng n grmnt r ccrd: rmrks cnsnnt wth r wn blfs. (s wll s nt vwl)
ei i aeee o ao: ea ooa i ou o eie. (a e a o oe).
March 7, 2011