a meeting of people for consultation; "emergency council"
a body serving in an administrative capacity; "student council"
(Christianity) an assembly or theologians and bishops and other representative of different churches or dioceses that is convened to regulate matters of discipline or doctrine
making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction; "a pretentious country house"; "a pretentious fraud"; "a pretentious scholarly edition"
the body of members of an organization or group; "they polled their membership"; "they found dissension in their own ranks"; "he joined the ranks of the unemployed"