1
Core action
Comfort and support someone who is grieving, disappointed, or distressed.
Example
Friends gathered to console the grieving family.
console
/kənˈsəʊl/ · kun-SOHLverb
Comfort and support someone who is grieving, disappointed, or distressed.
Use console to express this relationship precisely: comfort and support someone who is grieving, disappointed, or distressed.
What console Really Means
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
2
Common construction
Use this expression in its normal grammatical frame so the relationship between the surrounding ideas remains explicit.
Example
The coach consoled the team after its defeat.
3
Reasoning effect
It tells the reader how to interpret the timing, scope, evidence, contrast, condition, or consequence in the statement.
Example
Nothing could fully console her after the loss.
Use console Naturally
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
Friends gathered to console the grieving family.
The coach consoled the team after its defeat.
Nothing could fully console her after the loss.
Precision Matters
Console overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
console
vs.Means comfort and support someone who is grieving, disappointed, or distressed.
deject
Means make someone feel dispirited, downhearted, or low in spirits.
console
vs.Means comfort and support someone who is grieving, disappointed, or distressed.
exasperate
Means irritate, frustrate, or annoy someone intensely.
console
vs.Means comfort and support someone who is grieving, disappointed, or distressed.
condemn
Means express strong disapproval of something as wrong, harmful, or unacceptable; sometimes formally sentence someone to punishment.
console
vs.Means comfort and support someone who is grieving, disappointed, or distressed.
assuage
Means make an unpleasant feeling, fear, pain, or concern less intense; soothe or relieve it.
Test console in Context
They offer comfort and support during disappointment.
1
After the rejection, his colleagues tried to ___ him by emphasizing the strength of his work.