concensus
UK[]US[]
[noun]
A general agreement or collective opinion, especially one reached by a group.
Morpheme Breakdown
con
census
con
together
census
assessment
Etymology
The word "concensus" is a variant spelling of the more common "consensus". It derives from the Latin verb 'censere', meaning "to assess" or "to judge", which is also the root of 'census', the official count and assessment of a population. The prefix 'con-' (together) was added to form the Latin 'consensus', literally meaning "a feeling together" or "agreement in feeling". Over time, this literal sense of a shared assessment evolved into the modern abstract meaning of a general agreement reached by a group, reflecting a collective judgment rather than a mere individual opinion.
Analysis
Structure: con (together) + census (assessment)
- con: Latin origin, a prefix meaning "together" or "with".
- census: Latin origin, meaning "assessment" or "a registering".
Examples
After much debate, the committee finally reached a concensus on the new policy.
There is a growing concensus among scientists about the causes of climate change.
The board members failed to achieve a concensus, so the vote was postponed.