Word.ws English Dictionary

consensualism

consensualism noun: a system where decisions are made based on the consensus of those involved.

Noun

consensualism (uncountable)

  1. A system where decisions are made based on the consensus of those involved.
    • These locations reflect the dilemma and uneasy compromise between desirable, yet mutually exclusive features. One axis ranges from majoritarianism to consensualism. The other goes from unitarism to federalism.2000, Markus M. L. Crepaz, Thomas Albert Koelble, David Wilsford, Democracy and Institutions: The Life Work of Arend Lijphart, page 79
    • Faced with a choice between managerial despotism and liberal anarchy CLS founders voted for Utopian consensualism.2002, James G. McGann, Robert Kent Weaver, Think Tanks and Civil Societies: Catalysts for Ideas and Action

Origin of consensualism

From consensual + -ism.

Questions about consensualism

What does consensualism mean?
Consensualism means a system where decisions are made based on the consensus of those involved.
What part of speech is consensualism?
Consensualism is a noun.

Words near consensualism in the dictionary

  1. consensual crimes
  2. consensual non-consent
  3. consensualisation
  4. consensualisations
  5. consensualise
  6. consensualism
  7. consensualist
  8. consensualists
  9. consensualities
  10. consensuality
  11. consensualization

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: consensualism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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