council
/ˈkaʊn.səl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northumbria/ˈkuːn.səl/
council noun: a committee that leads or governs (e.g. city council, student council). Also the abbreviation of church council.
Noun
council (plural councils)
- 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
- 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...2024 November 2, Maryse Zeidler, “Hereditary chiefs slam Vancouver Island city council for remarks on restoring Indigenous place names”, in CBC News
- Discussion or deliberation.
- 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
- 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
Verb
council (third-person singular simple present councils, present participle (US) counciling or (UK) councilling, simple past and past participle (US) counciled or (UK) councilled)
- To sit in council with; to hold discussions with.
Proper noun capitalized: Council
Council
- A surname.
- A male given name.
- A small city, the county seat of Adams County, Idaho, United States.
Also used as
council is also the abbreviation of church council.
council meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
council in Hindi
- committee that leads or governs
- परिषद pariṣad, मजलिस majlis
council in Marathi
- परिषद
council in Urdu
- committee that leads or governs
- مَجْلِس majlis, اَنْجُمَنْ anjuman, کَونْسِل kaunsil
council in Bengali
- committee that leads or governs
- মজলিস mojoliś, পরিষদ poriśod
More languagesFewer languages
- council in Gujarati
- કાઉન્સિલ
- council in Odia
- ପରିଷଦ, ପରିଷଦର
- council in Sanskrit
- परिषद् pariṣad
- council in Nepali
- परिषद्, परिषद, काउन्सिलिंङ
- council in Pashto
- شورا šorã, مجلس majləs
- council in Tagalog
- sanggunian
- council in Arabic
- مَجْلِس majlis, مَجْمَع majmaʕ
- council in Malay
- majlis, dewan
- council in Indonesian
- dewan, konsil, majelis
- council in Thai
- สภา sà-paa
- council in Vietnamese
- hội đồng
- council in Myanmar
- ကောင်စီ kaungci
Examples of council in a sentence
- I’m not sure how to word this letter to the council.
- The city council spends thousands of pounds removing graffiti from public buildings.
- The city council decided the matter should go to public vote.
Synonyms of council
Forms of council
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | councils |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | councils |
| present participle US | counciling |
| present participle UK | councilling |
| past participle US | counciled |
| past US | counciled |
| past participle UK | councilled |
| past UK | councilled |
Origin of council
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”).
Words formed from council
- afforced council
- anticouncil
- borough council
- canine council
- church council
- city council
- council area
- Council Bluffs
- council communism
- council estate
- Council Grove
- council house
- council-housed
- council housing
- council housing estate
- councilism
- councilist
- councillor
- councilor
- councilman
- councilmate
- councilmember
- council of war
- councilperson
- council pop
- council tax
- councilwoman
- county council
- district council
- domestic policy council
- ecumenical council
- federal council
- governor-general-in-council
- Hebdomadal Council
- intercouncil
- kennel council
- local council
- mayor-council
- minority council
- order-in-council
- order in council
- order of council
- parish council
- parochial church council
- particular council
- plenary council
- privy council
- provincial council
- Security Council
- spokescouncil
- student council
- subcouncil
- town council
- unitary council
- Whitley council
- works council
Phrases with council
Words that rhyme with council
Questions about council
- What does council mean?
- Council means a committee that leads or governs (e.g. city council, student council).
- What is council in Hindi?
- Council in Hindi is परिषद (pariṣad), मजलिस (majlis). See Council meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is council?
- Council can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce council?
- Council is pronounced /ˈkaʊn.səl/.
- What is the plural of council?
- The plural of council is councils.
Words near council in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: council (page history and authors); Council (page history and authors); council (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); council (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); council (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); council (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-council.ogg.
Cite this entry: “council.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/council. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.