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con·cert

(kŏnsûrt′, -sərt)

1. Music A performance given by one or more singers or instrumentalists or both in the presence of an audience.

a. Unity achieved by mutual communication of views, ideas, and opinions: acted in concert on the issue.

b. Archaic Agreement in purpose, feeling, or action: “His looks bespoke a mind absorbed in meditation on his country's fate; but a positive concert between him and Henry could not more effectually have exhibited him to view than when Henry with indignation ridiculed the idea of peace” (George Morgan).

c. Archaic Concerted action: “One feels between them an accumulation of gentleness and strength, a concert of energies” (Vanity Fair).

v. (kən-sûrt) con·cert·ed, con·cert·ing, con·certs

v. tr.

1. To plan or arrange by mutual agreement: “Finally the allies were able to concert their actions long enough to defeat Napoleon” (Jennifer Mitzen).

2. To adjust; settle: “Unless we concert measures to prevent it, there will be another and a final war” (Woodrow Wilson).

v. intr.

To act together in harmony: “The object of desire, concerting with the existing order, turns into a token of love, revolting against the existing order” (Lilian Munk Rösing).

[French, from Italian concerto, from Old Italian, agreement, harmony, from concertare, to bring into agreement, possibly from Vulgar Latin *concertāre, to settle by argument, from Latin, to debate : con-, com- + certāre, to contend, frequentative of cernere, to separate, decide by fighting; see krei- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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