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Adjective for consensus

English Language & Usage Asked by bxekg on April 18, 2021

Is there an adjective that indicates something was reached by consensus? “Consensual” seems to be a synonym of “consentual” and have nothing to do with consensus. Online dictionaries listing “consensus” do not include any reference to adjective forms.

Example:

Most of the committee agreed it was a good idea, and the rest didn’t oppose it. The decision was ____

I am not looking for “unanimous”, since to my understanding consensus is about overall agreement even if some individuals disagree, whereas unanimity is a lot stronger. For instance, you almost never hear claims about “unanimity among experts/scientist” on some issue, only consensus.

3 Answers

As a group, the decision was agreed upon. Although some members may not have voted for it, or may even have voted against it, meaning it wasn't unanimous, as a process the decision followed the rules and procedures of requiring a majority view.

Therefore, the group decision was concordant:

[Merriam-Webster]
CONSONANT, AGREEING

// All three tests have concordant results.
// the movie's opening-weekend gross was fairly concordant with box-office returns for that genre


The difficulty is one of semantics and context. When a group decision is made, some people may not agree with the specific decision itself, but they may still agree with the fact that it was reached by following a process that they agree with.

In other words, from the viewpoint of an individual dissenter:

We will have to agree to disagree.
I don't believe what you say, but I will defend your right to say it.
I support and respect the process and the decision—even if it's not the result I wanted.

It's a matter of perspective.

The decision itself was accepted because it was in concord with (in agreement with or consonant with) the majority opinion.

Answered by Jason Bassford on April 18, 2021

The noun "concensus" is often used as a modifier to refer to the decision that was reached via that process. So you can say:

It was a consensus decision.

From Lexico:

[as modifier] ‘a consensus view’

Answered by Barmar on April 18, 2021

I think you are correct, "consensual" is more about "with a person's consent", rather than a group decision.

Its not a single word but: "general agreement" implies that, of the unspecified number of individuals involved, most agreed to the decision; it leaves room for some of those involved to have disagreed, but suggests that the ultimate decision was agreed by a majority...

Answered by NeilB on April 18, 2021

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