consistente

Consistente is an adjective used in several Romance languages, notably Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. It generally denotes something that holds together well, is steady, coherent, or well founded. In addition to abstract uses, it can describe physical texture or substance, especially in reference to foods or materials, where it implies thickness, density, or solidity.

In Spanish, the term commonly describes coherence or reliability. A consistent argument or plan is one that is logical and well founded. A person can be described as consistente when their behavior or decisions are steady and dependable. Data or results may be labeled consistentes when they remain uniform across measurements or experiments, reinforcing a conclusion. The word also appears in phrases like datos consistentes or resultados consistentes to indicate alignment and reliability.

In Portuguese, consistente has a similar range of meanings and often includes a physical sense. It can refer to a coherent, well-founded rationale, a reliable or stable behavior, and, in everyday language, to something with substantial texture, such as uma sopa consistente (a thick soup) or uma massa consistente (a dense dough). It also describes data or conclusions that align across sources.

In Italian, consistente is used to denote something substantial or solid, as well as coherent or well-founded. An argomento consistente or una spiegazione consistente conveys a solid, convincing basis; a pasto consistente refers to a substantial meal, highlighting the word’s physical and figurative versatility.

Etymology-wise, consistente derives from Latin consistens, from consistēre, meaning to stand together or to be in agreement, with usage preserved across Romance languages.