consultancy

consultancy — noun

1. a business or organisation whose main purpose is to give expert advice to other

1.名詞B1
釋義

a business or organisation whose main purpose is to give expert advice to other companies, organisations, or individuals in a specific area of work — such as management, information technology, or marketing.

例句

The management consultancy helped the retailer improve its supply chain.

collocation: management consultancy

Ezra joined an IT consultancy after working as a system administrator for six years.

collocation: IT consultancy

同義詞
  • consulting firm

    essentially interchangeable, though slightly more formal in tone

  • advisory firm

    broader term that can include legal or financial advice, not necessarily management consulting

  • advisory agency

    less common; often refers to smaller or specialist advisory businesses

文法句型

[field] + consultancy

consultancy + that-clause

用法筆記

This sense is a countable noun, so you can talk about one consultancy or several consultancies. The type of expertise often appears before the word — for example, design consultancy, recruitment consultancy, or legal consultancy.

常見錯誤

She works as a consultancy at a bank.
She works as a consultant at a bank.
💡a consultancy is a company; a consultant is the person who works for one.

2. the work or profession of providing paid expert advice to organisations, usually

2.名詞B2
釋義

the work or profession of providing paid expert advice to organisations, usually as an independent specialist working on a project basis rather than as a permanent employee of the client.

例句

Constanza does freelance consultancy for several tech companies while finishing her PhD.

collocation: freelance consultancy

The IT team brought in a specialist to provide consultancy on their network security.

collocation: provide consultancy on

同義詞
  • consulting

    slightly more general and can be used as an adjective ('consulting work') or a gerund ('she does consulting')

  • advisory work

    broader; can include informal advice that is not paid or project-based

  • freelancing

    overlaps in meaning but is not limited to expert advice — freelancing can cover any self-employed work

反義詞
  • in-house employment

    being a permanent employee of a single organisation rather than providing external advice

文法句型

do + consultancy

provide + consultancy

consultancy + work

consultancy + services

用法筆記

This sense is uncountable, so it does not take a or an — do not say 'a consultancy' when you mean advisory work. To refer to individual pieces of work, use consultancy services, consultancy projects, or consultancy assignments.

常見錯誤

He offered three consultancies to the startup.
He offered three consultancy services to the startup.
💡consultancy is uncountable when it means the activity; use consultancy services or consultancy projects for multiple instances.