Con-sid'er-ā'tion, n.
n. [Lat. consideratio, Fr. considération, Pr. consideracio, It. considerazione.]
Sense 1. The act of considering; continuous and careful thought; contemplation; deliberation.
Let us think with consideration, and consider with acknowledging, and acknowledge with admiration. Sidney.
Sense 2. Attentive respect; appreciative regard;—used especially in diplomatic or stately correspondence.
The undersigned has the honor to repeat to Mr. Hulseman the assurance of his high consideration. D. Webster.
The consideration with which he [Galileo] was treated. Whewell.
Sense 3. Claim to notice or regard; a moderate degree of respectability; regard; some degree of importance or consequence; significance.
Lucan is the only author of consideration among the Latin poets who was not explained for the use of the Dauphin. Addison.
Sense 4. That which is considered or taken into account as a ground of opinion or action; motive; reason; influence.
He was obliged, antecedent to all other considerations, to search an asylum. Dryden.
Sense 5. (Law.) The cause which moves a contracting party to enter into an agreement; the material cause of a contract; the price of a stipulation; compensation; equivalent. Bouvier.
☞ Consideration is used in the jurisprudence of England and the United States in the same sense as civilians use the word cause, in relation to obligations. Motive is not the same thing as consideration, as the latter means something which is of value in the eye of the law, and which may be either some benefit to the party promising or some detriment to the other party.