council of war
Americannoun
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a conference of high-ranking military or naval officers, usually for discussing a major emergency or war problem.
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any conference for discussing or deciding upon a course of action.
noun
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an assembly of military leaders in wartime
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an emergency meeting to formulate a plan
Etymology
Origin of council of war
First recorded in 1580–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For more than six months, Washington had pleaded with his council of war to approve an amphibious assault on the British garrison.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 29, 2018
In a neo-Tuscan villa in an office park near the Charleston, W. Va., airport, seven West Virginia plaintiffs’ lawyers gathered on Jan. 13 for a council of war.
From BusinessWeek ● Jan. 14, 2014
Instead, the President held a protracted council of war with General Westmoreland, whom he had met only once before and was anxious to size up further.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hostilities promptly broke out within the council of war itself, mainly over the relative merits of the Salk injected and the Sabin oral vaccines.
From Time Magazine Archive
Washburn and Read hold a council of war at a hilltop plantation known as Chatham, roughly halfway between Rice’s Station and High Bridge.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
