Consistent With: Standard Pattern
Consistent With: Standard Pattern records the directly documented Cambridge collocation and avoids expanding it into an unsupported contrast page.
Cambridge documents “consistent with” for something that agrees with facts, behavior, or principles.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Meaning / situation | Form / construction | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| agrees with facts, evidence, behavior, principles, or a standard | consistent with + complement | Use “with” before what the item agrees with. |
| stable over time or across cases without naming a comparison | consistent | The adjective can stand alone when no complement is needed. |
Quick tests
Meaning / construction test
Are you naming the facts, principle, evidence, or behavior that something agrees with?
If yes: Use “consistent with” before that complement.
If no: If the sentence only describes steadiness or regularity, “consistent” may stand without a “with” phrase.
Caveat: Choose by the documented meaning or construction; a different pattern may be valid in a different sentence structure or variety.
Examples
The result is consistent with the earlier measurement.
“With” introduces the evidence it agrees with.
Her explanation is consistent with the documented timeline.
The two accounts do not conflict.
The formatting is consistent throughout the report.
No comparison complement is needed here.
Further guidance
Construction
Cambridge defines consistent with something as being in agreement with facts, behavior, or principles.
Style Boundary
This page records the supported consistent-with construction rather than manufacturing a competing construction rule.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- consistent with something — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Cambridge dictionary evidence for the construction consistent with something.