consequential

Etymology

It is from Latin cōnsequentia (“consequence”) with the suffix -al,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} or, as Etymonline puts it, consequent with the same suffix.^[8] The Latin noun, the source of consequence, is an abstract noun from the present-participle stem of cōnsequor (“to follow after”), formed from com- (“with, together”) and sequor (“to follow”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”).^[8] The noun consequence came into English in the late 14th century through Old French consequence (“result”),^[8] which is recorded in Anglo-Norman from the early 13th century.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Following merely as a consequence, not directly or immediately; eventual: 1627, in W. Sclater's Briefe Exposition of 2 Thessalonians, published in 1629.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates its first use to 1626,^[3] and Etymonline to the 1620s, with the same sense.^[8] The adverb consequentially is older, from about 1600 in Etymonline's dating.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The legal phrase consequential damages, losses that follow from an act without being its direct result, keeps the first sense.^[2][4] From the 1640s and 1650s the adjective was used more broadly of what follows as an inference (1642) or as an effect or result (1655),^[2][8] while from 1659 it described reasoning marked by logical sequence or consistency, a use the Shorter Oxford calls rare today.^[2][4] In the 18th century it came to mean "pregnant with consequences, important" (1728, in Fielding), a sense the OED records only until 1821.^[2][8] From this, Etymonline explains, came the sense for people, "self-important", from 1758,^[8][2] and in the 19th century "having social consequence" (1833).^[2] The Shorter Oxford says the sense "important" now applies only to people,^[4] but Collins and the American Heritage Dictionary list "important, significant" as a current sense of the word for things as well.^[10][11] Johnson (1755) defined it as produced by the necessary chain of effects from causes, and as having its consequences justly connected with the premises.^[12]

Timeline

• 1627 – following indirectly, eventual, as in consequential damages.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1620s.^[8]
• 1642 – following as an inference or conclusion.^[2]
• 1655 – following as an effect or result.^[2][8]
• 1659 – marked by logical sequence or consistency.^[2][4]
• 1728 – important, pregnant with consequences (obsolete by 1821).^[2][8]
• 1758 – of people, self-important.^[2][8]
• 1833 – of people, having social standing.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Following as a result or effect, especially indirectly: The flood caused consequential losses to local shops.^[10][3][2]
2. Having important consequences; significant: a consequential vote on the budget.^[10][11]
3. Of a person, self-important or pompous; also, socially important or influential.^[10][11][2]
4. Marked by logical sequence or consistency (now rare).^[4][2]

Word family

• consequentiality
• consequentially
• consequentialness
• consequentialism
• nonconsequential

Related words

• consequence
• consequent
• inconsequential
• sequel
• sequence

Usage notes

Collins notes that both consequential and consequent can describe what happens as a result of something else, but that consequent is the more usual word in that sense in modern English.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.