council

C3O1U1N1C3I1L1
/ˈkaʊn.səl/Northumbria/ˈkuːn.səl/

noun

A committee that leads or governs (e.g. city council, student council).

“the First Council of Nicaea”

Similar
synod
OriginMiddle English counseil ← Old French conseil ← Latin cōnsilium →
Very commonScrabble 11
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Meanings

council1

nouncouncil (plural councils)

plural councils

  1. A committee that leads or governs (e.g. city council, student council).

    He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.

    1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
    1 more example

    The comments were made at a council meeting last month, during which one councillor questioned whether changing the names would be pushing reconciliation efforts along too quickly. […] At a city council meeting on Oct. 8, Campbell River councillors discussed a letter sent by the B.C. Geographical Names Office inviting comments on the name changes.

    2024 November 2, Maryse Zeidler, “Hereditary chiefs slam Vancouver Island city council for remarks on restoring Indigenous place names”, in CBC News
    1. UKmetonymicallyA local authority.
  2. Discussion or deliberation.

    O great in action and in council wise.

    1715–1720, Homer, “Book IV”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC
    1 more example

    Satan […] void of rest, / His potentates to council called by night;

    2008 [1667], John Milton, chapter 6, in W. Kerrigan, J. Rumrich, S. Fallon, editors, Paradise Lost (Modern Library Classics) (poetry), Random House Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 212, lines 414–416
  3. abbreviationChristianityShort for church council

    the First Council of Nicaea

    Synonyms: synod

verbcouncil (third-person singular simple present councils, present participle (US) counciling or (UK) councilling, simple past and past participle (US) counciled or (UK) councilled)

present singular third person councils · US participle present counciling · UK participle present councilling · US participle past counciled · US past counciled · UK participle past councilled · UK past councilled

  1. transitiveTo sit in council with; to hold discussions with.

Council2

proper noun
  1. A surname.
  2. A male given name.
  3. A small city, the county seat of Adams County, Idaho, United States.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounShort for church council

Similar
synod
Narrower
afforced councilborough councilcanine councilchurch councilcity councilcommunity councilcouncil of warcounty councildistrict councildomestic policy councilecumenical councilfederal councilkennel councillocal councilminority councilparish councilparochial church councilprivy councilsovietspokescouncilstudent councilsubcouncilsupercounciltown councilunitary councilWhitley councilworks council

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*selh₁-“take, grab”
  2. Latincōnsilium“plan, intention, design, purpose”
  3. Old Frenchconseil“advice, deliberation, thought”
  4. Middle Englishcounseil“meeting, conference, commune”
  5. Englishcouncil

Inherited from Middle English counseil (“meeting, conference, commune”), from Old French conseil (“advice, deliberation, thought”), from Latin cōnsilium (“plan, intention, design, purpose”), from cōnsulō (“consult, seek counsel from, take counsel from, deliberate, reflect”), from Proto-Indo-European *selh₁- (“take, grab”).

More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek συνέδριον
  • συνέδριον (sunédrion)committee that leads or governs
Arabic مَجْلِس, مَجْمَع
  • مَجْلِس (majlis)committee that leads or governs
  • مَجْمَع (majmaʕ)committee that leads or governs
Bengali মজলিস, পরিষদ
  • মজলিস (mojoliś)committee that leads or governs
  • পরিষদ (poriśod)committee that leads or governs
Bulgarian съве́т
  • съве́т (săvét)committee that leads or governs
Catalan consell
  • consellcommittee that leads or governs
Chinese Mandarin 理事會 /理事会, 委員會 /委员会
  • 理事會 /理事会 (lǐshìhuì)committee that leads or governs
  • 委員會 /委员会 (wěiyuánhuì)committee that leads or governs
  • 市政廳 /市政厅 (shìzhèngtīng)committee that leads or governs
Czech rada, zastupitelstvo
  • radacommittee that leads or governs
  • zastupitelstvocommittee that leads or governs
Danish råd
  • rådcommittee that leads or governs
Dutch raad
  • raadcommittee that leads or governs
Esperanto konsilio
  • konsiliocommittee that leads or governs
Estonian nõukogu
  • nõukogucommittee that leads or governs
Finnish neuvosto, valtuusto
  • neuvostocommittee that leads or governs
  • valtuustocommittee that leads or governs
French conseil
  • conseilcommittee that leads or governs
German Rat
  • Ratcommittee that leads or governs
Greek συμβούλιο
  • συμβούλιο (symvoúlio)committee that leads or governs
Hebrew מוֹעָצָה
  • מוֹעָצָה (mo'atsá)committee that leads or governs
Hindi परिषद, मजलिस
  • परिषद (pariṣad)committee that leads or governs
  • मजलिस (majlis)committee that leads or governs
Hungarian tanács
  • tanácscommittee that leads or governs
Icelandic ráð
  • ráðcommittee that leads or governs
Indonesian dewan, konsil
  • dewancommittee that leads or governs
  • konsilcommittee that leads or governs
  • majeliscommittee that leads or governs
Italian consiglio
  • consigliocommittee that leads or governs
Japanese 評議会, 協議会
  • 評議会 (hyōgikai)committee that leads or governs
  • 協議会 (kyōgikai)committee that leads or governs
Korean 이사회, 평의회
  • 이사회 (isahoe)committee that leads or governs
  • 평의회 (pyeong'uihoe)committee that leads or governs
Latin consilium
  • consiliumcommittee that leads or governs
Latvian dome, padome
  • domecommittee that leads or governs
  • padomecommittee that leads or governs
Lithuanian taryba
  • tarybacommittee that leads or governs
Malay majlis, dewan
  • majliscommittee that leads or governs
  • dewancommittee that leads or governs
Māori rūnanga
  • rūnangacommittee that leads or governs
Norwegian Bokmål råd
  • rådcommittee that leads or governs
Polish rada
  • radacommittee that leads or governs
Portuguese conselho
  • conselhocommittee that leads or governs
Romanian sfat, consiliu
  • sfatcommittee that leads or governs
  • consiliucommittee that leads or governs
Russian сове́т
  • сове́т (sovét)committee that leads or governs
Slovak rada, zastupiteľstvo
  • radacommittee that leads or governs
  • zastupiteľstvocommittee that leads or governs
Spanish concejo, concilio
  • concejocommittee that leads or governs
  • conciliocommittee that leads or governs
Swahili kikao, baraza
  • kikaocommittee that leads or governs
  • barazacommittee that leads or governs
Swedish råd, styrelse
  • rådcommittee that leads or governs
  • styrelsecommittee that leads or governs
Tagalog sanggunian
  • sangguniancommittee that leads or governs
Thai สภา
  • สภา (sà-paa)committee that leads or governs
Turkish konsey, meclis
  • konseycommittee that leads or governs
  • mecliscommittee that leads or governs
Ukrainian ра́да
  • ра́да (ráda)committee that leads or governs
Urdu مَجْلِس, اَنْجُمَنْ
  • مَجْلِس (majlis)committee that leads or governs
  • اَنْجُمَنْ (anjuman)committee that leads or governs
  • کَونْسِل (kaunsil)committee that leads or governs
Vietnamese hội đồng
  • hội đồngcommittee that leads or governs
Welsh cyngor
  • cyngorcommittee that leads or governs
Yiddish ראַט, ראָט
  • ראַט (rat)committee that leads or governs
  • ראָט (rot)committee that leads or governs

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with council

counselgroundsel
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

counselcounsel
Cite this entry
APA

council. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/council

MLA

“council.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/council. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “council,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/council.

Source: council on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.