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 problem was that the vast majority of the consortium’s funding came from the fishing industry itself. —Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025

Removing one gold Mega Ball from the game will improve overall odds from 1:23 to 1:24, the lottery consortium said. —Theresa Braine, New York Daily News, 6 Apr. 2025

Why Canadians are better than Americans at protesting Trump right now The best estimate for this past February was somewhere from 125,000 to 184,000 participants, according to Jeremy Pressman, one of the consortium’s co-directors and a professor at the University of Connecticut. —Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 5 Apr. 2025

Dubai Holding, as part of a consortium, completed its acquisition of Nord Anglia Education in a transaction valuing the private-school operator at $14.5 billion. —Hayley Cuccinello, CNBC, 4 Apr. 2025

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