consecutive

Pluralconsecutives

1. 1
   adjective

   Following one after another in time, without any interruption in the sequence.

   Like the rungs of a ladder, each one coming right after the last.

   She attended class on four consecutive mornings without missing one.

   The store posted record sales for six consecutive quarters.

   Similarsuccessive, straight, uninterrupted, continuous, sequential

   Oppositenonconsecutive, intermittent

   Note

   The everyday sense comes from Latin cōnsecūtus, "followed up," by way of French consécutif. It sits most naturally after a number, as in scoring in 15 consecutive qualifiers or in consecutive finals, which makes it a favorite word for streaks and records. It has no degrees: a run is consecutive or it is not, so "more consecutive" is an error.

2. 2
   adjective

   Arranged so that each part follows logically from the part before it.

   Like links in a chain of reasoning, each fastened to the one before.

   The essay developed its thesis through consecutive arguments, each grounded in the previous one.

   Her reasoning proceeded in consecutive stages, building toward a single conclusion.

   Similarsequential, successive, ordered

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A run of notes or chords produced by repeatedly shifting the same interval up or down in pitch.

   The harmony tutor flagged a consecutive between the soprano and bass lines.

   Composers in strict counterpoint were trained to avoid consecutives between voices.

   Note

   A harmony teacher's word, usually plural and usually a fault. Students are told to check that there are no consecutives between soprano and bass. The classic cases are the parallel fifths or octaves that strict counterpoint forbids. Henry J. Watt's The Foundations of Music (1919) notes that the ban grows stricter the nearer the interval lies to the fundamental.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A grammatical form that marks or describes an event as following in time from another.

   The narrative chained its events with a consecutive linking each clause to the one before.

   A consecutive at the start of the verb shifts the whole sentence into past-time storytelling.

   Note

   Its best-known case is the Biblical Hebrew waw consecutive, the narrative verb form that chains one event onto the last. Commentators speak of the two waw consecutives in Genesis 2:15 resuming the story. The noun usually takes a modifier, as in waw consecutive or imperfect consecutive. John D. Alderete shows the imperfect consecutive even moving stress, as in wayyáaqom, "and he arose."

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A mode of interpreting in which the interpreter speaks after the original speaker pauses, rendering segments of speech into another language.

   At the press conference, the interpreter switched from consecutive to simultaneous as the pace picked up.

   Consecutive demands a strong memory, since the interpreter must hold whole passages before rendering them.

   Note

   Interpreters' shorthand: "consecutive interpretation" clipped to its adjective. It mostly names the mode itself and is then uncountable, as in working in consecutive. It can also refer to a single session, as in "a more natural setting for the consecutive." Its partner in the trade is simultaneous, which is delivered while the speaker is still talking.

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