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council

noun

Simple meaning

A local authority.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kownsuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkaʊnsəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

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

  2. UKmetonymic

    A local authority.

  3. Discussion or deliberation.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

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

Used this way, council is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in education or classroom contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Education/classroom

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use council

  • “The town council met to discuss the new park proposal.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

city councilprivy councilexecutive counciltown councilnational councilresearch counciladvisory councilstate council

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • council membernounCompound term

    A member of a council.

  • council of basel-ferrara-florencenounCompound term

    The council in 1431-1439 that concentrated on the elimination of heresies and on reforms within the Roman Catholic Church.

  • council of chalcedonnounCompound term

    The fourth ecumenical council in 451 which defined the two natures (human and divine) of Christ.

  • council of constancenounCompound term

    The council in 1414-1418 that succeeded in ending the Great Schism in the Roman Catholic Church.

  • council of economic advisorsnounCompound term

    An executive agency responsible for providing economic advice to the President.

  • council of ephesusnounCompound term

    The third ecumenical council in 431 which declared Mary as mother of God and condemned Pelagius.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • councillornounRelated term

    A member of a council.

  • councilmannounRelated term

    A man who is a council member.

  • councilwomannounRelated term

    A woman who is a council member.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.