consultant
/kənˈsʌlt(ə)nt
/noun
1A person who provides expert advice professionally: he acted as campaign consultant to the president...
- The consultants provide advice on how to energise the crystals and place the objects.
- Wind farm experts and consultants West Coast Energy will be on hand to answer questions on the scheme.
- The city was chosen against the advice of consultants, who ruled it out on cost grounds.
Synonyms
adviser, guide, counsellor;
expert, specialist, authority, pundit
informal ace, whizz, wizard, hotshot
North American informal maven
2 [often as modifier] British A hospital doctor of senior rank within a specific field: a consultant paediatrician...
- Reporting levels among hospital consultants and doctors in nursing homes have increased far less.
- I recently accompanied a relative to hospital to see a consultant oncologist.
- Their experiences are commented on by a general practitioner and a consultant haematologist.
Synonyms
senior doctor, specialist
Origin
Late 17th century (in the sense 'a person who consults'): probably from French, from Latin consultare (see consult).