council
See also: Council
English
editEtymology
editInherited 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”).
Pronunciation
edit- enPR: kounʹ-səl, IPA(key): /ˈkaʊn.səl/
- (Northumbria) IPA(key): /ˈkuːn.səl/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -aʊnsəl
- Homophone: counsel
Noun
editcouncil (plural councils)
- A committee that leads or governs (e.g. city council, student council).
- 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- 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.
- 2024 November 2, Maryse Zeidler, “Hereditary chiefs slam Vancouver Island city council for remarks on restoring Indigenous place names”, in CBC News[1]:
- 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.
- (UK, metonymic) A local authority.
- Discussion or deliberation.
- 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:
- Satan […] void of rest, / His potentates to council called by night;
- 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book IV”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
- O great in action and in council wise.
- (Christianity) Short for church council
- Synonym: synod
- the First Council of Nicaea
Hyponyms
edit- afforced council
- borough council
- canine council
- church council
- city council
- community council
- council of war
- county council
- district council
- domestic policy council
- ecumenical council
- federal council
- kennel council
- local council
- minority council
- parish council
- parochial church council
- privy council
- soviet
- spokescouncil
- student council
- subcouncil
- supercouncil
- town council
- unitary council
- Whitley council
- works council
Derived terms
edit- 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
Related terms
editTranslations
editcommittee that leads or governs
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local authority — see municipality
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
editcouncil (third-person singular simple present councils, present participle (US) counciling or (UK) councilling, simple past and past participle (US) counciled or (UK) councilled)
- (transitive) To sit in council with; to hold discussions with.
See also
editReferences
edit- “council”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “council”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “council”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
- “council”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kelh₁-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/aʊnsəl
- Rhymes:English/aʊnsəl/2 syllables
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- British English
- English metonyms
- en:Christianity
- English short forms
- English terms with usage examples
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Collectives