Consonant

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Consonant \Con"so*nant\, n. [L. consonans, -antis.]
     An articulate sound which in utterance is usually combined
     and sounded with an open sound called a vowel; a member of
     the spoken alphabet other than a vowel; also, a letter or
     character representing such a sound.
     [1913 Webster]


  
     Note: Consonants are divided into various classes, as mutes,
           spirants, sibilants, nasals, semivowels, etc. All of
           them are sounds uttered through a closer position of
           the organs than that of a vowel proper, although the
           most open of them, as the semivowels and nasals, are
           capable of being used as if vowels, and forming
           syllables with other closer consonants, as in the
           English feeble (-b'l), taken (-k'n). All the consonants
           excepting the mutes may be indefinitely, prolonged in
           utterance without the help of a vowel, and even the
           mutes may be produced with an aspirate instead of a
           vocal explosion. Vowels and consonants may be regarded
           as the two poles in the scale of sounds produced by
           gradual approximation of the organ, of speech from the
           most open to the closest positions, the vowel being
           more open, the consonant closer; but there is a
           territory between them where the sounds produced
           partake of the qualities of both.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: "A consonant is the result of audible friction,
           squeezing, or stopping of the breath in some part of
           the mouth (or occasionally of the throath.) The main
           distinction between vowels and consonants is, that
           while in the former the mouth configuration merely
           modifies the vocalized breath, which is therefore an
           essential element of the vowels, in consonants the
           narrowing or stopping of the oral passage is the
           foundation of the sound, and the state of the glottis
           is something secondary." --H. Sweet.
           [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Consonant \Con"so*nant\, a. [L. consonans, -antis; p. pr. of
     consonare to sound at the same time, agree; con- + sonare to
     sound: cf. F. consonnant. See {Sound} to make a noise.]
     1. Having agreement; congruous; consistent; according; --
        usually followed by with or to.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Each one pretends that his opinion . . . is
              consonant to the words there used.    --Bp.
                                                    Beveridge.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              That where much is given there shall be much
              required is a thing consonant with natural equity.
                                                    --Dr. H. More.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Having like sounds.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Consonant words and syllables.        --Howell.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Mus.) harmonizing together; accordant; as, consonant
        tones, consonant chords.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Of or pertaining to consonants; made up of, or containing
        many, consonants.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              No Russian whose dissonant consonant name
              Almost shatters to fragments the trumpet of fame.
                                                    --T. Moore.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  consonant
       adj 1: involving or characterized by harmony [syn: {harmonic}, {harmonical},
               {harmonized}, {harmonised}, {in harmony}]
       2: in keeping; "salaries agreeable with current trends"; "plans
          conformable with your wishes"; "expressed views concordant
          with his background" [syn: {accordant}, {agreeable}, {conformable},
           {concordant}]
       n 1: a speech sound that is not a vowel [ant: {vowel}]
       2: a letter of the alphabet standing for a spoken consonant

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  235 Moby Thesaurus words for "consonant":
     accented, accordant, according, affirmative, agreeable, agreeing,
     alike, allophone, alveolar, answerable, apical, apico-alveolar,
     apico-dental, articulated, articulation, aspiration, assimilated,
     assimilation, assonant, assonantal, at one, attuned, automatic,
     back, balanced, barytone, bilabial, blended, blending, broad,
     cacuminal, central, cerebral, check, checked, chiming, close,
     coexistent, coexisting, coherent, coincident, coinciding,
     commensurate, compatible, concordant, concurrent, concurring,
     conformable, congenial, congruent, congruous, consentaneous,
     consentient, consistent, consonantal, constant, continuant,
     continuous, cooperating, cooperative, correspondent, corresponding,
     dental, diphthong, dissimilated, dissimilation, dorsal, en rapport,
     epenthetic vowel, equable, equal, equivalent, even, explosive,
     flat, front, glide, glossal, glottal, glottalization, guttural,
     hard, harmonic, harmonious, harmonizing, heavy, high, homogeneous,
     homophonic, immutable, in accord, in agreement, in chorus,
     in concert, in concord, in rapport, in sync, in synchronization,
     in tune, in unison, inaccordance, inharmony, intonated, invariable,
     labial, labialization, labiodental, labiovelar, laryngeal, lateral,
     lax, level, light, like-minded, lingual, liquid, low,
     manner of articulation, measured, mechanical, methodic, mid,
     modification, monodic, monolithic, monophonic, monophthong,
     monophthongal, morphophoneme, mute, muted, narrow, nasal,
     nasalized, occlusive, of a piece, of like mind, of one mind,
     on all fours, open, ordered, orderly, oxytone, palatal,
     palatalized, parasitic vowel, peak, persistent, pharyngeal,
     pharyngealization, pharyngealized, phone, phoneme, phonemic,
     phonetic, phonic, pitch, pitched, plosive, positive, posttonic,
     proportionate, prothetic vowel, reconcilable, regular, retroflex,
     robotlike, rounded, segmental phoneme, self-consistent, semivowel,
     smooth, soft, sonant, sonority, speech sound, stable, steadfast,
     steady, stop, stopped, stressed, strong, surd, syllabic,
     syllabic nucleus, syllabic peak, syllable, symbiotic, sympathetic,
     symphonious, synchronized, synchronous, systematic, tense, thick,
     throaty, tonal, tonic, transition sound, triphthong, tuned, twangy,
     unaccented, unanimous, unbroken, unchangeable, unchanged,
     unchanging, undeviating, undifferentiated, undiversified, uniform,
     unisonant, unisonous, unrounded, unruffled, unstressed, unvaried,
     unvarying, velar, vibrant, vocable, vocalic, vocoid, voice, voiced,
     voiced sound, voiceless, voiceless sound, voicing, vowel,
     vowellike, weak, wide