consequence

Pluralconsequences

Formsconsequences, consequencing, consequenced

1. 1
   nouncountable

   Something that happens as a result of an earlier action, event, or cause.

   The flooding was a direct consequence of the dam's failure.

   Higher prices are often a consequence of increased demand.

   Similarresult, effect, outcome, upshot, product

   Oppositecause

   Note

   The core sense, and the one the word's history explains. It came through Middle English and Old French from Latin consequentia, which can be read as con- plus the root of sequence: what follows along with something. In this sense the word is neutral, so a result can be good, bad or neither. In technical prose it often introduces a clause in the frame with the consequence that, as in a botanist describing a leaf's structure.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   An unwanted or unpleasant effect that follows from an action.

   Drivers who speed must accept the consequences if they cause a crash.

   One consequence of the budget cuts was longer wait times at clinics.

   Similarrepercussion, result, fallout, ramification, effect

   Note

   Here the effect is one nobody wants, and the plural can carry the threat on its own. There will be consequences needs no adjective to sound ominous; it is the warning form used by a parent or a boss. In measured writing the same sense appears in phrases like the consequences of climate change, where the context supplies the unpleasantness. That reliance on context is what sets it apart from the neutral 'result' meaning.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   Importance, influence, or significance, especially when something is described as of consequence.

   The clerical error turned out to be of no real consequence.

   He is a politician of considerable consequence in the region.

   Similarimportance, significance, moment, import, note

   Oppositeinsignificance, unimportance

   Note

   A sense that lives mostly after of: of consequence, of no consequence, of any consequence. It can rank people as well as matters. Thackeray's Pen looks "a lad of much more consequence than he was really." In the negative, the phrase is a courteous way to call something trivial. A sports report says Bulgaria barely posed "a threat of any consequence," meaning no real threat at all.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A linked sequence of causes and effects; consecution.

   The historian mapped the consequence of decisions that led, link by link, to the collapse.

   In her account each step formed part of a single consequence running from origin to outcome.

   Similarchain, sequence, succession

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A conclusion, deduction, or inference; the thing concluded from given facts.

   In a valid argument, the consequence cannot be false when the premises are true.

   The logician examined whether the consequence really followed from the stated premises.

   Similarconclusion, inference, deduction

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To threaten or punish a child or similar person with specific penalties for misbehaving.

   Staff are trained to consequence residents calmly and consistently.

   She consequenced her son by taking away his screen time for the week.

   Similarpunish, discipline, penalize

   Oppositereward

   Note

   A verb made from the noun, with regular forms: consequencing, consequenced. It belongs to the vocabulary of parenting and classroom management, where it is deliberately set against punishment. Levy and Orlans, in Attachment, trauma, and healing (1998), describe consequencing as teaching a lesson and punishment as seeking revenge. Its natural object is a child, and the passive (being consequenced) suits the impersonal tone of reports about behavior.

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