consequence

1. 1.

   a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon

   “the magnetic effect was greater when the rod was lengthwise”

   “his decision had depressing consequences for business”

   “he acted very wise after the event”

   Synonymseffectoutcomeresulteventissueupshot

   Broaderphenomenon

   Narroweroffspringaftereffectaftermathbandwagon effectbrisancebutterfly effectby-productchangecoattails effectCoriolis effect
2. 2.

   the outcome of an event especially as relative to an individual

   Synonymsaftermath

   Broaderresult

   Narrowercorollaryjust desertsfruitsequellatrainwages
3. 3.

   having important effects or influence

   “decisions of great consequence are made by the president himself”

   “virtue is of more moment than security”

   “that result is of no consequence”

   Synonymsimportmoment

   Antonymsinconsequence

   Broadersignificance

   Narrowermatterhell to pay

Other forms of consequence

plural

consequences·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about consequence

What does consequence mean?

consequence means "a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in consequence?

consequence has 3 syllables: con-seq-uence. The stress falls on "con". In IPA it is /ˈkɑnsəkwəns/.

What is another word for consequence?

Close synonyms include effect, outcome, result, event, issue. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of consequence?

The recorded antonyms are inconsequence.

Is consequence a common word?

consequence is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.