# consociation
## English
### Etymology

* PIE word
* *ḱóm
Borrowed from Latin cōnsociātiōnem, the accusative singular of cōnsociātiō (“alliance; association, union”), from cōnsociō (“to make common; to associate; to connect, join (in), unite; to agree with; to share”) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or the results of actions). Cōnsociō is derived from con- (prefix indicating a being or bringing together of several things) + sociō (“to ally, associate; to join, unite; to share in”) (from socius (“associated; joining in, sharing, partaking; akin, kindred, related; allied, confederate, leagued, united”, adjective), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”)).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /kɒn(ˌ)səʊʃɪˈeɪʃ(ə)n/, /kən-/, /-sɪ-/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ˌkɑnˌsoʊsiˈeɪʃən/, /kən-/, /-ʃi-/
* Rhymes: -eɪʃən
* Hyphenation: con‧so‧ci‧at‧ion

### Noun

consociation (countable and uncountable, plural consociations)
* (uncountable) Associating, or coming together in a union; (countable) an instance of this.
** 1649, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Discourse XVIII. Vpon the Institution and Reception of the Holy Sacrament of the LORDS Supper.”, in The Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy Life According to the Christian Institution. […], London: […] R. N. for Francis Ash, […], →OCLC, 3rd part, paragraph 15, page 118:The ſum is this; after the greateſt conſociation of religious duties for preparation, no Man can be ſufficiently vvorthy to communicate, let us take care, that vve be not unvvorthy by bringing a guilt vvith us, or the remanent affection to a ſin.
** 1653, Henry More, chapter XI, in An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC, book I, page 149:But thoſe Raptures of Devotion by day, might be by the Spirits kindling a purer kinde of Love-flame in his heart, as vvell as by fortifying and raiſing his Imagination. […] And if this be their manner of communion, it may vvell be enquired into, […] vvhether all men be capable of conſociation vvith theſe good Genii.
** 1837–1839, Henry Hallam, “History of Moral and Political Philosophy, and of Jurisprudence from 1600 to 1650”, in Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, paragraph 100, page 400:Consent is the second mode of acquiring dominion. The consociation of male and female is the first species of it, which is principally in marriage, for which the promise of the woman to be faithful is required.
* (uncountable) Intimate companionship or fellowship; (countable) an instance of this.
** 1610, The Second Tome of the Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Wisdom 8:3, page 354:She [the spirit of wisdom] glorifieth her nobilitie, hauing conſociation with God: yea and the Lord of al hath loued her.
** 1738, William Warburton, “Section III”, in The Divine Legation of Moses […], volume I, London: […] Fletcher Gyles, […], →OCLC, book III, page 359:Thus Epictetus, a thorough Stoic, if ever there was any, ſpeaking of Death, ſays, "But whither do you go? no where to hurt you: You return from whence you came: To a friendly Conſociation with your kindred Elements: What their was of the Nature of Fire in your Compoſition, returns to the Element of Fire; what their was of Earth, to Earth; what of Air, to Air; and of Water, to Water. There is neither Hell, Acheron, Cocytus, or Pyriphlegethon."
* (countable, Christianity) A confederation of Christian churches or organizations.
** (US, Congregationalism, specifically) A voluntary, permanent council made up of representatives of neighbouring Congregational churches for mutual advice and co-operation in ecclesiastical matters; also, a meeting of pastors and delegates from churches thus united.
    In Connecticut some of the Congregational churches are associated in consociations and the others in associations.
*** 1869, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “One Minister in Cloudland”, in Oldtown Folks, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 451:The Consociation was another meeting of the clergy, but embracing also with each minister a lay delegate, and thus uniting, not only the ministry, but the laymen of the county, in a general fraternal religious conference.
* (countable, ecology) A subdivision of an association, made up chiefly of organisms of a single species.
* (countable, politics) A power-sharing arrangement over territory entered into by competing groups.
* (countable, obsolete) An alliance; a confederation.

#### Derived terms

* consociational
* consociationally
* consociationalism
* consociationism

#### Related terms

* consociate
* consociated

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ Compare “consociation, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “consociation, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### Further reading

* consociationalism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* “consociation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.