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• privy council
  privy council

  noun

  a board or select body of personal advisers, as of a sovereign.
• Privy Council
  Privy Council

  noun

  the private council of the British sovereign, consisting of all current and former ministers of the Crown and other distinguished subjects, all of whom are appointed for life See also Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

privy council

American  

noun

1. a board or select body of personal advisers, as of a sovereign.

2. (initial capital letters) (in Great Britain) a body of persons who advise the sovereign in matters of state, the majority of members being selected by the prime minister.

3. (sometimes initial capital letters) any similar body, as one appointed to assist the governor of a British dominion.

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privy council ¹ British  

noun

1. the council of state of a monarch or noble, esp formerly

2. (in Canada) a ceremonial body of advisers of the governor general, the chief of them being the Federal cabinet ministers

3. archaic a private or secret council

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Privy Council ² British  

noun

1. the private council of the British sovereign, consisting of all current and former ministers of the Crown and other distinguished subjects, all of whom are appointed for life See also Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

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Other Word Forms

• Privy Counsellor
  noun
• privy councilor
  noun

Etymology

Origin of privy council

1250–1300; Middle English prive counseil privy counsel

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

privy council Privy Council

"I thought I'm going to buy a modern dress" and then embroider it with the fern motif of the privy council "as a nod to the past".

From BBC ● May 11, 2023

In January, Franklin was summoned to appear before the privy council, the king’s most senior advisers.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 15, 2023

Although he was a Protestant, he was a supporter of the Scotland's Catholic regent, and in 1561 he was appointed to the privy council by the newly widowed Mary on her return to Scotland.

From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2022

Such a move would have to be approved by the privy council.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 28, 2019

On the accession of James II. he obtained an infantry regiment in Ireland, and was appointed governor of Limerick and a member of the privy council.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 8 "Haller, Albrecht" to "Harmonium" by Various

Olivia Grange, the country's culture minister, said the petition would ask the King to refer three questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council over the legality of the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

All the parties also called for Donaldson to be stripped of his knighthood and removed from membership of the Privy Council.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

The first minister is able to advise the Privy Council - an advisory board to the monarch - on proclamations for Scotland, which are formally signed off by the King.

From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2026

Versions with and without the hyphen have been used in the past, but a 1960 Privy Council announcement used the hyphenated version, which will be used from now on.

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025

Parkinson was hauled before the Privy Council for questioning and came within an ace of being dispatched in irons to Australia before the charges against him were quietly dropped.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson