noun

• 1An official appointed by a government to live in a foreign city and protect and promote the government's citizens and interests there.

  ‘the British consul in Israel’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Foreign officials and consuls formed a special clique in the years of the late Qing Dynasty.’
  • ‘Federal officials and foreign consuls indicated their respect for the former president partly by lowering their flags to half-mast.’
  • ‘The honour for Fletcher officially came just hours after the consul's office in the city was closed down.’
  • ‘In contrast, Bremen and Hamburg received low-level consuls, mostly merchants interested in enhancing their own individual economic interests.’
  • ‘A host of local dignitaries presented bouquets of flowers to Rewat Thongprada, the honorary consul appointed by the Kazakhstan ministry of foreign affairs.’
  • ‘When the receptionist, an English-speaking woman, opened her window I went up to her to inform her that I was not a visa applicant but had an appointment with the consul.’
  • ‘The top military leadership position is the Minister of Defense, who is appointed by a consul, the head of the Valtavech government.’
  • ‘A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: ‘The consul visited the baby today and he is very well.’’
  • ‘While everyone's attention has been focused on the election results, the Foreign Office has been quietly kicking the UK consul in Romania.’
  • ‘They refused to acknowledge the declaration of war, responded to demands from Beijing for troops with merely token forces, and negotiated a ‘business as usual’ arrangement with the foreign consuls.’
  • ‘Rumors of corruption and controversies with foreign consuls caused him to be recalled in December.’
  • ‘It was left to the British consul to defend their interests in a rare burst of civic solidarity!’
  • ‘It is basically a chance for the various consuls from around the world to meet and compare notes.’
  • ‘Athy Town Council chairperson and Special Olympics Committee chairperson, Mark Dalton said he was honoured to welcome the ambassador and his consul.’
  • ‘They improved their economic situation under the protection of European consuls.’
  • ‘Detective Chief Inspector Steve Brunskill said this particularly complicated case was made easier by excellent co-operation between Lancashire Police, the Chinese officers and the Chinese consul.’
  • ‘Estonia and Scotland have strong links and, on the eve of Estonia's accession to the European Union, the country has recently appointed an honorary consul in Scotland.’
  • ‘Appointed a Chilean consul, Neruda went first to Barcelona and then to Madrid in 1935.’
  • ‘The US citizen, Komarovsky, was handed over to an American consul in Ashgabat on 24 April 2003 for deportation to the United States.’
  • ‘British consul Donald Holder likes the city, too.’

  Synonyms

  ambassador, diplomat, chargé d'affaires, attaché, envoy, emissary, plenipotentiary, consul general

  View synonyms

• 2(in ancient Rome) one of the two annually elected chief magistrates who jointly ruled the republic.

  ‘A spokesman stepped forward to offer a compromise: Octavian would remain consul, but a second consul would be elected annually, as of old, so that he could share the burden.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘In place of the monarchy they set up a republic with power vested in a senate and two annually elected consuls.’
  • ‘Elected consul for 205, Scipio wanted to carry the war to Africa.’
  • ‘In fact, they argued so vociferously, over everything from the dates of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah to those of the consuls of ancient Rome, that their quarrels became proverbial.’
  • ‘Cicero and Antonius were elected consuls, and Catiline, secretly encouraged by Caesar and Crassus, prepared for a rising.’
  • ‘It is dated by the name of the consul serving in Rome under Trajan in AD 98.’
  • ‘After his return from a successful year administrating Spain Caesar was elected consul for 59 BC through political alliance with Pompey and Crassus.’
  • ‘Like the ‘Centuriata ‘it was convened by consuls or praetors and became the main legislative body and elected most of the lower magistrates.’’
  • ‘Together Pompey, Crassus and Caesar succeed in getting Caesar elected consul and in passing legislation that mainly benefited them.’
  • ‘It is on the site of the Laterani family palace, seized by the emperor Nero when a consul of that ancient family was accused of treason.’
  • ‘Returning to Rome, Marius was elected consul for five years consecutively and given command against the migrating Cimbri and Teutones, who had inflicted a series of defeats on the Romans and were threatening Italy.’
  • ‘The Assembly of Centuries (comitia centuriata), which conducted annual elections of consuls, was composed of all members of the army.’
  • ‘They used bribery to get him elected consul for 59 (this pact is known as the ‘first triumvirate’ - a term without ancient authority).’
  • ‘The campaign worked, and he was elected consul for 108.’
  • ‘Furious, he drove both consuls and the Senate from Rome.’
  • ‘Even monarchy, which was replaced by two consuls jointly holding the imperium of the royal office, retained a vestigial presence in the form of a religious official called the rex sacrorum.’
  • ‘So the Senate sent both consuls north to meet the Carthaginian.’
  • ‘So, in 216, once again Roman consuls led Roman armies against Hannibal.’
  • ‘In 205, Scipio ran for consul on the platform that he could defeat Carthage and bring the long war to a close.’
  • ‘They have taken to heart, perhaps overly so, lessons from the ancient Roman Republic, where the consuls were to serve for no more than a single year.’

  1. 2.1Any of the three chief magistrates of the first French republic (1799–1804).
     ‘The Constitution of the Year VIII provided for three consuls, with a First Consul, elected for ten years, having power to override the other two.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘The second and third consuls offer a good example of the consular ralliement: Cambacérès was a regicide, while Lebrun was a royal servant under the Ancien Régime.’
     • ‘Its leaders included Napoleon Bonaparte, who served as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, when he ended the republic by declaring himself Emperor Napoleon I.’
     • ‘In 1801, while still first consul, he signed a concordat with the Catholic Church.’