Consider

How to spell consider

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce consider

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does consider mean?

1. verbTo think about something carefully before making a decision or forming an opinion.

Consider in a sentence

• The panel will consider every application before the deadline.

• Before you sign, consider the long-term cost of the loan.

Where does consider come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb considerare, which carried the surprisingly poetic literal sense of observing the stars closely. It was built from con-, an intensive prefix meaning 'thoroughly', and sidus (stem sider-), meaning 'star' or 'constellation', the same root that gives us 'sidereal' for anything relating to the stars. The connection is thought to come from the careful, attentive way astronomers and augurs studied the night sky before forming a judgement, so the word came to mean weighing something carefully in the mind. English took it in during the 1300s by way of Old French considerer, keeping both the spelling and the broadened sense of thinking carefully about something. Because the original star is hidden inside the middle of the word, the easy reminder for spelling is the clear 'sider' core sitting between con- and -er.

How the word is built

• con- (intensive: thoroughly)
• sider (from Latin sidus/sider-: star, constellation)