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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

consistence en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /kənˈsɪst(ə)ns/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • /kənˈsɪstəns/ (General-American)
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle French. Compare French consistance. By surface analysis, consist + -ence.

Meanings

  1. (countable, uncountable) Logical consistency; lack of self-contradiction.
  2. (countable, uncountable) The staying together, or remaining in close relation, of non-physical things.
    • This composer’s musical work is of extraordinary consistence.
    • Her performance has lacked consistence over the last year.
  3. (archaic, countable, uncountable) The physical quality which is given by the degree of density, firmness, solidity, and viscosity; consistency.
    • All these things, and many others too numerous to mention, were well mixed together in the famous pot and boiled for four hours, until the consistence of a mess, or poss, was obtained, […] 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
    • If they [expressed juices] be boiled into the Consistence of a Syrup. 1731, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC:
    • It is generally about the size of a melon, a little fibrous towards the centre, but everywhere else quite smooth and puddingy, something in consistence between yeast-dumplings and batter-pudding. 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 476:
  4. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) The condition of adhering or standing together, or being fixed in union, as the parts of a body; coherence, existence, firmness, solidity.
    • Water, being divided, maketh many circles, till it restore itself to the natural consistence. 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
    • VVe are as vvater, vveak, and of no conſiſtence, alvvayes deſcending, abiding in no certain place, unleſeſ vvhere vvee are detained vvith violence: […] 1650 October (published 1651), Jer[emy] Taylor, “[XXVIII Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Summer Half-year, […].] Sermon XXVIII. A Funeral Sermon, Preached at the Obsequies of the Right Honorable and Most Vertuous Lady, the Lady Frances Countesse of Carbery: Who Deceased October the 9th 1650. at Her House Golden-grove in Carmarthen-shire.”, in ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1654, →OCLC, page 358:
    • When it was brought to the school it discharged from its right nostril, a whitish, viscid, clotty matter, which, although of little consistence, strongly adhered to the sides of the nostril. 1830, The Veterinarian:
  5. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) That which stands together as a united whole; a combination.
    • The church of God, as meaning whole consistence of orders and members. 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Causes that hitherto have Hindred it. […], [London]: […] Thomas Vnderhill, →OCLC:
  6. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Standing still; quiescence, state of rest.
  7. (countable, qualifier:obsolete except poetic, uncountable) A substance which adheres together.
    • Ægyptian ingenuity vvas more unſatisfied, contriving their bodies in ſvveet conſiſtences, to attend the return of their ſouls. But all vvas vanity, feeding the vvinde, and folly. 1658, Thomas Browne, “Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall. […]. Chapter V.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 78:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
consistences Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

inconsistence

Relateds

consistency · consist · consistent

Translations (7)

bg консистенция (physical quality) · ga comhsheasmhacht (physical quality) · pl konsystencja (physical quality) · ga comhsheasmhacht (for non-physical things) · bg плътност (physical quality) · fr cohérence (for non-physical things) · fr consistance (physical quality)