consolidated

1. 1
   adjective

   Made firm or solid, or combined from separate parts into a single, unified whole.

   Like several streams merging into a single broad river.

   Decades of pressure left the sediment consolidated into dense stone.

   The newly consolidated department brought four scattered teams under one manager.

   Similarcombined, merged, unified, compacted, united

   Oppositeunconsolidated, separate, fragmented, loose

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of consolidate.

   The company consolidated its regional branches into a single headquarters.

   Over the decade, several rival firms consolidated under one corporate banner.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty as past tense and past participle, and the verb behind it works both ways: a company consolidated its branches, or rival firms simply consolidated. With have it forms the perfect, and with be the passive, as in debts consolidated into a single loan. Older English could use bare consolidate as an adjective, a job now left to the "made firm or unified" adjective.

3. 3
   adjective

   Showing the combined financial figures of a parent company together with all of its subsidiary companies.

   Like a family combining every member's bank statement into one summary of the household's finances.

   The consolidated balance sheet combined results from the parent and six subsidiaries.

   Analysts prefer consolidated statements because they reveal the group's overall financial health.

   Similarcombined

   Oppositeunconsolidated

   Note

   An accountant's term, and a strict one: the group is reported as if it were a single economic unit, so sales, loans and balances passing between parent and subsidiaries are eliminated rather than counted twice. It sits before a noun, as in consolidated balance sheet, consolidated statements or consolidated results, and it takes no degrees. Figures are consolidated or they are not.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3