council

American  

[koun-suhl] / ˈkaʊn səl /

noun

councils plural

1. an assembly of persons summoned or convened for consultation, deliberation, or advice.

2. a body of persons specially designated or selected to act in an advisory, administrative, or legislative capacity.

   the governor's council on housing.

3. (in certain British colonies or dependencies) an executive or legislative body assisting the governor.

4. an ecclesiastical assembly for deciding matters of doctrine or discipline.

5. New Testament. the Sanhedrin or other authoritative body.

---

council British  

/ ˈkaʊnsəl /

noun

1. an assembly of people meeting for discussion, consultation, etc

   an emergency council

2. a body of people elected or appointed to serve in an administrative, legislative, or advisory capacity

   a student council

3. (sometimes capital) the local governing authority of a town, county, etc

4. a meeting or the deliberation of a council

5. (modifier) of, relating to, provided for, or used by a local council

   a council chamber

   council offices

6. (modifier) provided by a local council, esp (of housing) at a subsidized rent

   a council house

   a council estate

7. an administrative or legislative assembly, esp the upper house of a state parliament in Australia

8. Christianity an assembly of bishops, theologians, and other representatives of several churches or dioceses, convened for regulating matters of doctrine or discipline

---

Commonly Confused

Council, counsel, and consul are not interchangeable. Council is a noun. Its most common sense is “an assembly of persons convened for deliberation or the like.” It is generally used with a singular verb. A member of such a group is a councilor. Counsel is both noun and verb. Its most common meaning as a noun is “advice given to another”: His counsel on domestic relations is sound. A person giving such advice is a counselor. In law, counsel means “legal adviser or advisers” and can be either singular or plural. As a verb, counsel means “to advise.” The noun consul refers to the representative of a government who guards the welfare of its citizens in a foreign country.

See counsel

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subcouncil
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• councils
  plural

Etymology

Origin of council

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English co(u)nsile, from Anglo-French cuncil ( e ), Old French concile, from Late Latin concilium “synod, church council” ( Latin: “assembly”), probably equivalent to Latin con- con- + -cil(āre), combining form of calāre “to summon, convoke” + -ium -ium; Middle English -s- by association with Anglo-French cunseil counsel

Explanation

A council is a group of people that gathers for the purpose of giving advice or making decisions. If you’re president of the student council, for example, you might organize people to get the hallways at your school painted purple. Council comes from the Latin word concilium for "group of people, meeting," which is what it basically means today. There are student councils, honor councils, or city councils, to name a few. People working together to take care of business — that’s a council. Of course, that council might give advice, or counsel (with an s) people on what to do. Not the same word — an honor council might counsel a principal about how to address cheating in school, for example.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

council councils

Laura wants to quiz the council about how they can be certain no child in their care was affected.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

A council spokesperson said: "At no point have the police informed us that any children in care were involved in this case."

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

An investigation is under way after a "breakdown in proceedings" led to a council meeting being called off.

From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026

Verdugo’s yes vote made it unanimous—given he was the only council member present.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

“Don’t forget the student council meeting after school. Link wants everybody to be there.”

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

English councils built just 1,970 homes to rent in 2025, external, down from a construction rate of almost 200,000 a year in the 1950s.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Burnham could devote all of this money to councils or housing associations to try to increase the amount of new council and social housing being built.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Ashley is also campaigning for a change in the law, wanting to ensure councils follow consistent bullying procedures throughout the country.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

It adds there is no blanket rule and says people should speak to their local authority to check the rules, adding "councils should take a common-sense approach".

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

They chose the men who would represent their clans in the governing councils, and they held the power to recall unsatisfactory representatives.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz