inconsequential

Etymology

It is formed from English in- + consequential,^[2][3][4] and Etymonline sees it as inconsequent with the suffix -al.^[5] Consequential is formed from Latin cōnsequentia (“consequence”) and the suffix -al,^[2] and inconsequent is from Latin inconsequēns (“not logically connected”),^[5][2] from in- (“not”) and cōnsequēns, the present participle of cōnsequor (“to follow”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not following logically; marked by faulty reasoning or thought: 1623, in William Sclater's The Quæstion of Tythes.^[2][6] Etymonline also dates the word to the 1620s and Dictionary.com to 1615–25.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was logical: reasoning or speech that did not follow from its premises.^[2][3] The sense "of no consequence, unimportant", now the usual one, is recorded from 1782, in Fanny Burney's Cecilia,^[2][5] and in the 20th century the adjective was also used as a noun for a trivial thing.^[2][3] Both senses run parallel to those of inconsequent.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1623 – illogical, not following from the premises.^[2][6]
• 1782 – of no consequence, trivial.^[2][5]
• 1936 – noun, a thing of little importance.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of little or no importance; trivial, insignificant: an inconsequential detail.^[7][3][2]
2. Not following logically from what went before; irrelevant.^[6][7][2]
3. Lacking a logical order; haphazard.^[7][2]

Noun

1. A thing of little importance; a triviality.^[3][2]

Word family

• inconsequentiality
• inconsequentially

Related words

• consequence
• consequent

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins