Consultative

How to spell consultative

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce consultative

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does consultative mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or intended to give professional advice, or to seek the views of others before making a decision.

Consultative in a sentence

• The manager adopted a consultative approach before restructuring the team.

• The committee plays a purely consultative role and cannot impose its decisions.

Where does consultative come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb consulere, which meant 'to take counsel', 'to deliberate', or 'to ask the advice of', and which is also the root of the title 'consul' for a senior Roman magistrate who governed by consultation. From consulere came the frequentative form consultare, meaning 'to consult repeatedly or carefully', expressing the habit of seeking advice. English took 'consult' through Old French during the sixteenth century, and the adjective 'consultative' was built on it by adding the Latin-derived suffix -ative, which marks something as tending toward or characterised by the action of the verb. So 'consultative' literally describes a process or body whose whole purpose is taking counsel rather than dictating. The doubled pattern that trips writers is mostly the unstressed middle: the clear 'consult' is easy, but the schwa-laden ending '-ative' tempts people toward '-itive' or '-ertive', so anchoring it to 'consult' plus 'native' rhyme helps.

How the word is built

• consult- (from Latin consultare: to take counsel)
• -ative (adjective suffix forming 'tending to' or 'relating to')