consideration
Pluralconsiderations (some meanings)
- 1The act of thinking carefully about something, weighing several factors before reaching a decision.
The committee gave the budget long consideration before approving it.
Such a major move warrants serious consideration of every likely outcome.
Similarthought, deliberation
Oppositedisregard
Note
Built from consider plus -ation, by way of Old French and Latin, this is the weighing itself rather than the things weighed. Its usual partner is of: consideration of environmental effects. After much consideration is the stock way to announce a decision. In Dickens's David Copperfield (1850), in consideration of means "in view of," a phrase that takes a sharper, transactional turn in the contract-law sense.
- 2A fact, reason, or factor taken into account as grounds for a possible decision.
Environmental impact became a decisive consideration in the planning vote.
One consideration the board overlooked was the cost of long-term maintenance.
Note
Where the act of weighing is a process, here the word names each item on the scale, so it counts and readily goes plural. Adjectives sort the items: F. A. Hayek in 1949 sets "practical and short-run considerations" against grand speculation about rebuilding society. Factor, motive and reason sit close by, but consideration keeps the sense of something weighed rather than something that drives.
- 3Thoughtful regard for other people, making allowances for their needs and wishes.
Out of consideration for the grieving family, reporters kept their distance.
A good host shows consideration by remembering each guest's preferences.
Similarthoughtfulness, respect, kindness, regard, concern
Oppositethoughtlessness, inconsideration, disregard, selfishness
- 4The importance or regard attached to a person or thing; a claim to notice or attention.
An issue of this consideration cannot be settled in a single afternoon.
His long service earned him a degree of consideration few colleagues could match.
Similarimportance, consequence, significance, esteem, regard
Oppositeinsignificance, unimportance
Note
Here the word measures standing rather than thought. It shows most clearly in deserve consideration, as when Werner Winter in 1989 judges certain claims unworthy of "consideration as a contribution" to linguistic studies: what is denied is not merely a hearing but a place among serious work.
- 5A payment or other form of recompense given in return for something done.
The guide accepted a modest consideration for showing tourists the hidden trail.
In exchange for a small consideration, the porter carried their luggage upstairs.
Similarpayment, fee, reward, remuneration, recompense
Note
A tactful way to mention money: for a consideration means "if I'm paid." The phrase often arrives with a knowing aside, as in Anthony Burgess's Beds in the East (1959): "For a consideration, of course, but what the hell!" It sounds politer than naming a fee and suits small, informal deals, unlike the formal exchange of the contract-law sense.
- 6Something of value exchanged between parties that makes a promise legally binding as a contract.
Without valid consideration, the agreement could not be enforced as a binding contract.
A single peppercorn served as consideration, satisfying the rule that something pass between the parties.
Note
Lawyers recognize three forms of it: an act, a forbearance, or a return promise, each given in exchange for the other side's promise. Drafters signal it with the formula in consideration of, as in "In consideration of the performance of B's obligations hereunder." There the phrase means "in exchange for," not the "in view of" of the weighing sense.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English consideracioun, from Old French consideracion, from Latin cōnsīderātiō. It can be analysed as consider plus the suffix -ation.