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

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

The samples collected in the wild are cryogenically frozen and shipped to a consortium of European zoos, which use them to artificially inseminate their females. —Matjaž Krivic, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 Apr. 2024

Ho Chi Minh City Bach Suites Saigon: A member of the Design Hotels consortium, this property was a great discovery. —Chris Wallace, Travel + Leisure, 24 Mar. 2024

Landrigan, however, was the lead author of a massive undertaking by the Minderoo – Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health, a global consortium of scientists, health care workers and policy analysts charged with following plastics from creation to final product. —Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 14 Mar. 2024

Around 30 countries and a consortium of humanitarian organizations have called for a preemptive, legally binding treaty to ban autonomous weapons before they can be deployed. —Paul Scharre, Foreign Affairs, 29 Feb. 2024

Last year, Major Food Group, the consortium behind Carbone, opened ZZ’s Club in Hudson Yards, with memberships starting at thirty thousand dollars, plus ten thousand in annual dues. —Hannah Goldfield, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 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