Word.ws English Dictionary

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel noun: an honorific status officially conferred on senior or meritorious barristers (and occasionally other kinds of lawyer) during the reign of a queen.

Noun

Queen's Counsel (plural Queen's Counsel or Queen's Counsels, abbreviation QC)

  1. (Canada, New Zealand, UK, occasionally Australia) An honorific status officially conferred on senior or meritorious barristers (and occasionally other kinds of lawyer) during the reign of a queen.
    • Archibald was one of two Queen’s Counsels on Tortola, a distinguished title that permitted attorneys to be seated at the lead defense table when arguing a case before the court.2003, Lisa Pulitzer, Murder in Paradise: The Mystery Surrounding the Murder of American Lois Livingston McMillen, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 166
    • Barr’s three Queen’s Counsel absorbed Kawashima as they pored over reports from both sides.2020, Brian Deer, “Unblinded”, in The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Andrew Wakefield’s War on Vaccines, Brunswick, Vic.: Scribe Publications, →ISBN
  2. (UK, historical) A barrister or advocate appointed by the Crown during the reign of a queen.

Forms of Queen's Counsel

pluralQueen's Counsel
pluralQueen's Counsels
abbreviationQC

Origin of Queen's Counsel

queen's + counsel

Questions about Queen's Counsel

What does Queen's Counsel mean?
Queen's Counsel means an honorific status officially conferred on senior or meritorious barristers (and occasionally other kinds of lawyer) during the reign of a queen.
What part of speech is Queen's Counsel?
Queen's Counsel is a noun.
What is the plural of Queen's Counsel?
The plural of Queen's Counsel is Queen's Counsel.

Words near Queen's Counsel in the dictionary

  1. Queen's Birthday
  2. queen's bishop's pawn
  3. queen's bishop's pawns
  4. queen's cake
  5. queen's cakes
  6. Queen's Counsel
  7. Queen's Counsels
  8. Queen's County
  9. Queen's cowboy
  10. Queen's cowboys
  11. queen's cup

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Queen's Counsel (page history and authors). 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.

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