“The committee reached a census on the budget.”
Confusables Entry 1357 / 1605 60-second read
Census vs. Consensus
A population count versus a general agreement.
The comparisoni
“The committee reached a consensus on the budget — consensus means general agreement. Census is the official population count.”
The ruleii
¶
CENSUS = count. CONSENSUS = agreement.
CENSUS is the periodic government count of people. CONSENSUS is widespread agreement. Both come from Latin, but census traces to "censere" (to assess) while consensus traces to "consentire" (to feel together). Common spelling slip: "concensus" — never correct.
Memory aidiii
Remember it like this
CENsus counts. CONsensus = consent.