Council

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: coun=cil

CIDE DICTIONARY

Council, n. [F. concile, fr. L. concilium; con- + calare to call, akin to Gr. to call, and E. hale, v., haul. Cf. Conciliate. This word is often confounded with counsel, with which it has no connection.].

•  An assembly of men summoned or convened for consultation, deliberation, or advice; as, a council of physicians for consultation in a critical case.  [1913 Webster]
•  A body of man elected or appointed to constitute an advisory or a legislative assembly; as, a governor's council; a city council.  [1913 Webster]

  "An old lord of the council rated me the other day."  [1913 Webster]
•  Act of deliberating; deliberation; consultation.  [1913 Webster]

  "Satan . . . void of rest,
  His potentates to council called by night."  [1913 Webster]

  "O great in action and in council wise."  [1913 Webster]

Aulic council. See under Aulic. -- Cabinet council. See under Cabinet. -- City council, the legislative branch of a city government, usually consisting of a board of aldermen and common council, but sometimes otherwise constituted. -- Common council. See under Common. -- Council board, Council table, the table round which a council holds consultation; also, the council itself in deliberation. -- Council chamber, the room or apartment in which a council meets. -- Council fire, the ceremonial fire kept burning while the Indians hold their councils. [U.S.] Bartlett. -- Council of war, an assembly of officers of high rank, called to consult with the commander in chief in regard to measures or importance or nesessity. -- Ecumenical council (Eccl.), an assembly of prelates or divines convened from the whole body of the church to regulate matters of doctrine or discipline. -- Executive council, a body of men elected as advisers of the chief magistrate, whether of a State or the nation. [U.S.] -- Legislative council, the upper house of a legislature, usually called the senate. -- Privy council. See under Privy. [Eng.]

Syn. -- Assembly; meeting; congress; diet; parliament; convention; convocation; synod.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Council, n.
1 a an advisory, deliberative, or administrative body of people formally constituted and meeting regularly. b a meeting of such a body.
2 a the elected local administrative body of a parish, district, town, city, or administrative county and its paid officers and workforce. b (attrib.) (esp. of housing) provided by a local council (council flat; council estate).
3 a body of persons chosen as advisers (Privy Council).
4 an ecclesiastical assembly (ecumenical council).

Idiom

council-chamber a room in which a council meets. council-house a building in which a council meets. council of war
1 an assembly of officers called in a special emergency.
2 any meeting held to plan a response to an emergency. the Queen (or King) in Council the Privy Council as issuing Orders in Council or receiving petitions etc.

Etymology

ME f. AF cuncile f. L concilium convocation, assembly f. calare summon: cf. COUNSEL

THESAURUS

Council

Areopagus, Bund, Rochdale cooperative, advisory council, alliance, assemblage, assemblee, assembly, assignation, association, at home, audience, axis, ball, band, bargaining, bargaining session, bloc, board, board of directors, board of regents, board of trustees, body, brawl, cabinet, cadre, camarilla, caucus, coalition, college, colloquium, combination, combine, commission, committee, common market, conclave, concourse, confab, confabulation, confederacy, confederation, conference, confrontation, congregation, congress, consistory, consultation, consumer cooperative, conventicle, convention, convocation, cooperative, cooperative society, corps, council fire, council of state, council of war, credit union, curia, customs union, dance, date, diet, directorate, directors, directory, discussion, divan, economic community, eisteddfod, exchange of views, executive arm, executive committee, executive hierarchy, eyeball-to-eyeball encounter, federation, festivity, fete, forgathering, forum, free trade area, gang, gathering, get-together, governing board, governing body, group, grouping, high-level talk, housewarming, huddle, infrastructure, inquisition, interchange of views, interlocking directorate, interview, judicatory, judicature, judiciary, kitchen cabinet, league, levee, machine, management, meet, meeting, ministry, mob, negotiations, news conference, palaver, panel, parley, partnership, party, plenum, political machine, pourparler, powwow, press conference, privy council, prom, quorum, rally, reception, rendezvous, ring, seance, session, shadow cabinet, shindig, sit-in, sitting, society, soiree, steering committee, summit, summit conference, summitry, symposium, synod, the Inquisition, the administration, the brass, the executive, the people upstairs, top brass, tribunal, turnout, union

ROGET THESAURUS

Council

Council

N council, committee, subcommittee, comitia, court, chamber, cabinet, board, bench, staff, senate, senatus, parliament, chamber of deputies, directory, reichsrath, rigsdag, cortes, storthing, witenagemote, junta, divan, musnud, sanhedrim, classis, Amphictyonic council, duma, house of representatives, legislative assembly, legislative council, riksdag, volksraad, witan, caput, consistory, chapter, syndicate, court of appeal, board of control, board of works, vestry, county council, local board, audience chamber, council chamber, state chamber, cabinet council, privy council, cockpit, convocation, synod, congress, convention, diet, states-general, assembly, caucus, conclave, clique, conventicle, meeting, sitting, seance, conference, convention, exhibition, session, palaver, pourparler, durbar, house, quorum, council fire, powwow, primary, meeting, assemblage, member, senator, member of parliament, M, P, councilor, representative of the people, assemblyman, congressman, councilman, councilwoman, alderman, freeholder, senatorial, curule, congressional, parliamentary, legislative, law-making, regulatory, deliberative.

Party

N party, faction, side, denomination, communion, set, crew, band, horde, posse, phalanx, family, clan, team, tong, council, community, body, fellowship, sodality, solidarity, confraternity, familistere, familistery, brotherhood, sisterhood, knot, gang, clique, ring, circle, group, crowd, in-crowd, coterie, club, casino, machine, Tammany, Tammany Hall, corporation, corporate body, guild, establishment, company, copartnership, partnership, firm, house, joint concern, joint-stock company, cahoot, combine, trust, society, association, institute, institution, union, trades union, league, syndicate, alliance, Verein, Bund, Zollverein, combination, Turnverein, league offensive and defensive, alliance offensive and defensive, coalition, federation, confederation, confederacy, junto, cabal, camarilla, camorra, brigue, freemasonry, party spirit, Confederates, Conservatives, Democrats, Federalists, Federals, Freemason, Knight Templar, Kuklux, Kuklux Klan, KKK, Liberals, Luddites, Republicans, Socialists, Tories, Whigs staff, dramatis personae, in league, in partnership, in alliance, bonded together, banded together, linked, joined together, embattled, confederated, federative, joint, hand in hand, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, en masse, in the same boat.

Government

N government, legal authority, soveriegn, sovereign authority, authority, master, direction, national government, nation, state, country, nation- state, dominion, republic, empire, union, democratic republic, kingdom, principality, state government, state, shire, province, county, canton, territory, duchy, archduchy, archdukedom, woiwodshaft, commonwealth, region, property, county, parish city, domain, tract, arrondissement, mofussil, commune, wappentake, hundred, riding, lathe, garth, soke, tithing, ward, precinct, bailiwick, command, empire, sway, rule, dominion, domination, sovereignty, supremacy, suzerainty, lordship, headship, chiefdom, seigniory, seigniority, rule, sway, command, control, administer, govern, lead, preside over, reign, possess the throne, be seated on the throne, occupy the throne, sway the scepter, wield the scepter, wear the crown, state, realm, body politic, posse comitatus, judicature, cabinet, seat of government, seat of authority, headquarters, accession, installation, politics, reign, regime, dynasty, directorship, dictatorship, protectorate, protectorship, caliphate, pashalic, electorate, presidency, presidentship, administration, proconsul, consulship, prefecture, seneschalship, magistrature, magistracy, monarchy, kinghood, kingship, royalty, regality, aristarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy, theocracy, demagogy, commonwealth, dominion, heteronomy, republic, republicanism, socialism, collectivism, mob law, mobocracy, ochlocracy, vox populi, imperium in imperio, bureaucracy, beadledom, bumbledom, stratocracy, military power, military government, junta, feodality, feudal system, feudalism, thearchy, theocracy, dinarchy, duarchy, triarchy, heterarchy, duumvirate, triumvirate, autocracy, autonomy, limited monarchy, constitutional government, constitutional monarchy, home rule, representative government, monocracy, pantisocracy, gynarchy, gynocracy, gynaeocracy, petticoat government, legislature, judiciary, administration, office of the president, office of the prime minister, cabinet, senate, house of representatives, parliament, council, courts, supreme court, state, interior, labor, health and human services, defense, education, agriculture, justice, commerce, treasury, Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, National Institutes of Health, NIH, Postal Service, Post Office, Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, president, vice president, cabinet member, prime minister, minister, senator, representatative, president pro tem, speaker of the house, department head, section head, section chief, federal judge, justice, justice of the supreme court, chief justice, treasurer, secretary of the treasury, director of the FBI, governor, state cabinet member, state senator, assemblyman, assemblywoman, regal, sovereign, governing, royal, royalist, monarchical, kingly, imperial, imperiatorial, princely, feudal, aristocratic, autocratic, oligarchic, republican, dynastic, ruling, regnant, gubernatorial, imperious, authoritative, executive, administrative, clothed with authority, official, departmental, ex officio, imperative, peremptory, overruling, absolute, hegemonic, hegemonical, authorized, government, public, national, federal, his majesty's, her majesty's, state, county, city, N, a dog's obeyed in office, cada uno tiene su alguazil, le Roi le veut, regibus esse manus en nescio longas, regnant populi, the demigod Authority, the right divine of kings to govern wrong, uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

Churchdom

N church, churchdom, ministry, apostleship, priesthood, prelacy, hierarch, church government, christendom, pale of the church, clericalism, sacerdotalism, episcopalianism, ultramontanism, theocracy, ecclesiology, ecclesiologist, priestcraft, odium theologicum, monachism, monachy, monasticism, monkhood, pontificate, primacy, archbishopric, archiepiscopacy, prelacy, bishopric, bishopdom, episcopate, episcopacy, see, diocese, deanery, stall, canonry, canonicate, prebend, prebendaryship, benefice, incumbency, glebe, advowson, living, cure, rectorship, vicariate, vicarship, deaconry, deaconship, curacy, chaplain, chaplaincy, chaplainship, cardinalate, cardinalship, abbacy, presbytery, holy orders, ordination, institution, consecration, induction, reading in, preferment, translation, presentation, popedom, the Vatican, the apostolic see, religious sects, council, conclave, convocation, synod, consistory, chapter, vestry, sanhedrim, conge d'elire, ecclesiastical courts, consistorial court, court of Arches, ecclesiastical, ecclesiological, clerical, sacerdotal, priestly, prelatical, pastoral, ministerial, capitular, theocratic, hierarchical, archiepiscopal, episcopal, episcopalian, canonical, monastic, monachal, monkish, abbatial, abbatical, Anglican, pontifical, papal, apostolic, Roman, Popish, ultramontane, priest-ridden.