council

American  

[koun-suhl] / ˈkaʊn səl /

noun

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.

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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

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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

• subcouncil noun

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

The council urged anyone with information about the incident to contact them.

From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026

Under Maine’s bill, the state government would create a council to examine the impact of large data centers on the state and ratepayers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

The homes of Lancaster’s vice mayor and a council member — along with two other locations, including City Hall and a home in Bel-Air — were served with FBI search warrants Wednesday morning.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

Miguel Sanchez, the Providence city council member who pushed for the ban, says that storage facilities are taking up “a lot of land that should be used for other purposes.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

The Monday after Link’s bar mitzvah, the town council votes unanimously to build a museum and tolerance center in Chokecherry.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman