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Warn vs Counsel - What's the difference?

warn | counsel |

As verbs the difference between warn and counsel

is that warn is to make (someone) aware of impending danger etc or warn can be (label) to refuse, deny (someone something) while counsel is to give advice, especially professional advice.

As a noun counsel is

the exchange of opinions and advice; consultation.

warn

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) warnian, from (etyl) . Cognate with German warnen, Dutch waarnen.

Verb

(en verb)
  • To make (someone) aware of impending danger etc.
  • We waved a flag to warn the oncoming traffic.
  • To caution (someone) against unwise or unacceptable behaviour.
  • He was warned against crossing the railway tracks at night.
    Don't let me catch you running in the corridor again, I warn you.
  • To notify (someone) of something untoward.
  • I phoned to warn him of the rail strike.
  • To give warning.
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, tr. Bible , Galatians II, 9-10:
  • then Iames Cephas and Iohn [...] agreed with vs that we shuld preache amonge the Hethen and they amonge the Iewes: warnynge only that we shulde remember the poore.
  • * 1973 , Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow , Penguin 1995, p. 177:
  • She is his deepest innocence in spaces of bough and hay before wishes were given a different name to warn that they might not come true [...].
  • * 1988 , Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses , Picador 2000, p. 496:
  • She warned that he was seriously thinking of withdrawing his offer to part the waters, ‘so that all you'll get at the Arabian Sea is a saltwater bath [...]’.
  • * 1991 , Clive James, ‘Making Programmes the World Wants’, The Dreaming Swimmer , Jonathan Cape 1992:
  • Every country has its resident experts who warn that imported television will destroy the national consciousness and replace it with Dallas'', ''The Waltons'', ''Star Trek'' and ''Twin Peaks .
    Usage notes
    * The intransitive sense is considered colloquial by some, and is explicitly proscribed by, for example, the Daily Telegraph style guide (which prefers give warning).
    Derived terms
    * warner * warning * warn off

    Etymology 2

    From a combination of (etyl) wiernan (from (etyl) ; compare Swedish varna).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To refuse, deny (someone something).
  • *:
  • *:And yf thou warne' her loue she shalle goo dye anone yf thou haue no pyte on her / that sygnefyeth the grete byrd / the whiche shalle make the to ' warne her
  • counsel

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The exchange of opinions and advice; consultation.
  • * Bible, Matthew xxvii. 1
  • All the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus, to put him to death.
  • Exercise of judgment; prudence.
  • * Hooker
  • They all confess, therefore, in the working of that first cause, that counsel is used.
  • Advice; guidance.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I like thy counsel ; well hast thou advised.
  • * Tennyson
  • It was ill counsel had misled the girl.
  • Deliberate purpose; design; intent; scheme; plan.
  • * Bible, Psalms xxxiii. 11
  • The counsel of the Lord standeth forever.
  • * Bible, Proverbs xii. 5
  • The counsels of the wicked are deceit.
  • (obsolete) A secret opinion or purpose; a private matter.
  • * Gower
  • thilke lord to whom no counsel may be hid
  • A lawyer, as in Queen's Counsel (QC).
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Verb

  • To give advice, especially professional advice.
  • The lawyer counselled his client to remain silent.
    Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and other mental health professionals counsel clients.
  • To recommend
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * keep one's counsel * keep one's own counsel

    See also

    * council

    Anagrams

    *