Consensual

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /kənˈsɛnʃuəl/

Definitions

1. Involving or based on mutual agreement or permission from all parties involved
2. Involving a mutual understanding and voluntary agreement among all involved parties without any form of pressure
3. Characterized by the participation of all parties who agree freely and voluntarily

Etymology: Consensual is a straightforward formation: it is consensus with the adjectival suffix "-ual" attached. The base word, "consensus," comes from Latin "consentire," meaning "to feel or think together," built from "con-" ("together") and "sentire" ("to feel"). That literal sense of shared feeling lies behind the modern idea of agreement among people. The suffix has a longer ancestry than it first appears. It descends from a Latin "-ālis" that marked adjectives relating to a noun, the same pattern seen in words like "natural" or "national." English took the ending as "-ual" and attached it to "consensus" to describe something arising from or characterised by such agreement. The Proto-Indo-European roots behind the suffix are a distant background rather than part of the word's English story.

Synonyms: mutual, joint, collaborative

Antonyms: unilateral, nonconsensual