consult
https://gyazo.com/544ab36270aedf8cb29b4f726d4bd956
Confer and consult are very closely related in meaning, and each has senses that are synonymous with the other’s. But as is so often the case with near-synonyms, there are contexts in which one word is preferable to the other. If you confer with someone, it is entirely possible that you will be seeking advice, but you could also simply be having a discussion (“they conferred privately before making a decision”).
If you are consulting someone or something, it is more likely that you are seeking advice (“he consulted his doctor before deciding on a course of treatment”).
Consult is unambiguously the correct choice when one is seeking guidance or information from a non-human source; you would consult (not confer with) a dictionary for information on a word.
The sense of confer that is concerned with giving something (as in, “education confers many benefits”) is not shared by consult.
verb with object
｟ややかたく｠ 〈人が〉 «…について» 〈専門家･権威者など〉に相談する, 意見を聞く, 助言を求める; (→ 分詞consulting) e.g. you should consult a financial advisor.
have discussions or confer with (someone), typically before undertaking a course of action: 〈医者〉の診断を受ける; 〈人〉と話し合う «about, on, over»
e.g. patients are entitled to be consulted about their treatment
｟かたく｠ 〈人が〉 «人と/…について» (対等の立場で)相談する, 協議する, 話し合う «with/about, on» (!｟米｠ では医師や弁護士に相談する場合にも用いられる)
e.g. no object : they've got to consult with their board of directors.
｟ややかたく･主に書｠ 〈人が〉 【情報を得るために】〈辞書･参考書･地図など〉を調べる, 参照する(refer to) «for» e.g. consult the index at the back of the brochure.
e.g. after a consult with his attorneys, he retracted his previous statement.
ORIGIN