consensual
Meaning
involving the consent of all the people involved.
relating to or involving consensus.
Structure
Usage
the police confirmed that the encounter was entirely consensual.
they reached a consensual decision after a lengthy discussion.
in many jurisdictions, consensual acts between adults are not criminal.
Etymology
the word consensual is built upon the latin foundation of collective feeling. its core, the root 'sens', derives from the latin verb 'sentire', meaning 'to feel' or 'to perceive', which itself traces back to the proto-indo-european root sent- meaning 'to go' or 'to head for', metaphorically extending to 'to feel' as a mental direction. the prefix 'con-' intensifies this by adding the notion of 'together'. thus, the literal construction 'feeling together' evolved logically into the modern legal and social concept denoting agreement or permission granted by all parties involved, moving from shared perception to mutual assent.
Analysis
con- (latin prefix, meaning 'together', 'with'); sens (latin root, from 'sentire', meaning 'to feel'); -ual (latin adjectival suffix, meaning 'pertaining to' or 'characterized by').