Murray KemptonJohn Spanier
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Confer vs. Consult
Confer and consult are very closely related in meaning, and each has senses that are synonymous with the other’s. But as is so often the case with near-synonyms, there are contexts in which one word is preferable to the other.
If you confer with someone, it is entirely possible that you will be seeking advice, but you could also simply be having a discussion (“they conferred privately before making a decision”). If you are consulting someone or something, it is more likely that you are seeking advice (“he consulted his doctor before deciding on a course of treatment”). Consult is unambiguously the correct choice when one is seeking guidance or information from a non-human source; you would consult (not confer with) a dictionary for information on a word.
The sense of confer that is concerned with giving something (as in, “education confers many benefits”) is not shared by consult.
Examples of confer in a Sentence
Greg Child, Mixed Emotions: Mountaineering Writings of Greg Child, 1993
He liked the ease and glitter of the life, and the lustre conferred on him by being a member of this group of rich and conspicuous people.
—Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, 1905
It was a traditional compliment to be whinged at by an Englishman. It was his way of saying he trusted you, he was conferring upon you the privilege of getting to know the real him.
—Margaret Atwood, New Yorker, 5 Mar.1990
The lawyer and judge conferred about the ruling.
the British monarch continues to confer knighthood on those who are outstanding in their fields of endeavor
Dan Merica and Eric Tucker, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2024
Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel left his wealth to create a prize that rewards discoveries that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.
—Melina Khan, USA TODAY, 17 Oct. 2024
They were not allowed to confer, and didn’t need to.
—Sophie Elmhirst, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2024
This lady takes it a bit further, conferring congratulations on the mere possibility.
—Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 14 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for confer 
Articles Related to confer
Dictionary Entries Near confer
Cite this Entry
“Confer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confer. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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confer
verb
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