consulta

Consulta is a noun used in several Romance languages to denote the act of seeking advice or information from a person or source considered knowledgeable, as well as the information obtained through that process. The term derives from Latin consultare, meaning to deliberate, consult, or confer.

In everyday use, consulta can refer to consulting a professional or the encounter itself. In healthcare, a consulta médica is an appointment during which a clinician assesses symptoms, discusses findings, and proposes a diagnosis or treatment plan. The concept can extend to specialized contexts, such as consulta con un especialista, and to remote formats like teleconsulta, where the consultation occurs via telecommunication.

In law and public affairs, consulta denotes seeking expert opinion or advice, for example a legal consultation. It also appears in governance contexts as a formal process of gathering input from stakeholders or the public on policies or projects, sometimes described as consulta pública or public consultation.

In information technology and data management, consulta is used to describe a query or search operation to retrieve data from a database or information system. This usage emphasizes the act of requesting specific information from a larger repository.

The word similarly appears in academic and bibliographic contexts to indicate a consultation of sources or references. Across languages, consulta conveys the core idea of seeking guidance or information and the resulting information obtained through that process.