Council

A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions.^[1] A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or national level are not considered councils. At such levels, there may be no separate executive branch, and the council may effectively represent the entire government. A board of directors might also be denoted as a council.^{[citation needed]}

A committee might also be denoted as a council, though a committee is generally a subordinate body composed of members of a larger body, while a council may not be.^{[citation needed]} Because many schools have a student council, the council is the form of governance with which many people are likely to have their first experience as electors or participants.

A member of a council may be referred to as a councillor or councilperson, or by the gender-specific titles of councilman and councilwoman.