--- title: Merriam-Webster Corrects Donald Trump on Twitter, Counsel description: Merriam-Webster Dictionary's vocal Twitter account gave Donald Trump a gentle reminder that counsel and council are homophones. canonical: https://time.com/4770763/merriam-webster-corrects-donald-trump-tweet/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-08T16:59:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:43:26.484Z og:title: Merriam-Webster Just Thoughtfully Corrected Trump's Tweet og:description: Following the president's tweet about Sally Yates og:url: https://time.com/4770763/merriam-webster-corrects-donald-trump-tweet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2eb1fc8f5899b968/6988cc5fcf40a87738c4794f/merriam-webster-donald-trump-counsel-council.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Palestinians-Israel-US og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Merriam-Webster Just Thoughtfully Corrected Trump's Tweet twitter:description: Following the president's tweet about Sally Yates twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2eb1fc8f5899b968/6988cc5fcf40a87738c4794f/merriam-webster-donald-trump-counsel-council.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Merriam-Webster Just Reminded Donald Trump About the Difference Between 'Counsel' and 'Council'  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 8, 2017 4:59 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump listens to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas during a joint statement in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 3, 2017\. / AFP PHOTO / NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images) US President Donald Trump listens to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas during a joint statement in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 3, 2017\. / AFP PHOTO / NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 8, 2017 4:59 PM UTC The [Merriam-Webster dictionary Twitter account](http://time.com/4662821/merriam-webster-dictionary-throw-shade-meaning/) is a source of [helpful insights](http://time.com/4605401/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2016/), and, at times, snarky advice for those like [Ivanka Trump, who might need a refresher on the words they use](http://time.com/4726025/dictionary-ivanka-trump-complicity-merriam-webster/). All of this is to say that Merriam-Webster’s tweets targeting the administration’s wording have become popular and consistent, a fact that was confirmed tenfold on Monday morning after the dictionary took to Twitter to thoughtfully remind President Donald Trump about the importance of knowing your homophones. On Monday, after the President originally tweeted on his personal Twitter account that ousted acting Attorney General [Sally Yates](http://time.com/4770282/sally-yates-michael-flynn-russia-election/) should be asked “under oath, if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to the W.H. council” during her testimony when she will discuss what she told the White House about ties former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had to Russia, the dictionary’s social media team was quick to respond. Merriam-Webster took to their own account to clarify that there was definitely a difference between the words “counsel” and “council.” > [](https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/861576558494056448) The Merriam-Webster account then let the Internet know how they really felt about the incorrect word usage with the definition of another word. > [](https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/861577625927659520) Merriam-Webster closed with a cheeky message, “Happy Monday!” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4770763/merriam-webster-corrects-donald-trump-tweet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4770763/merriam-webster-corrects-donald-trump-tweet/"},"headline":"Merriam-Webster Just Reminded Donald Trump About the Difference Between 'Counsel' and 'Council'","datePublished":"2017-05-08T16:59:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:26.484Z","description":"Following the president's tweet about Sally Yates","url":"https://time.com/4770763/merriam-webster-corrects-donald-trump-tweet/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","twitter","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2eb1fc8f5899b968/6988cc5fcf40a87738c4794f/merriam-webster-donald-trump-counsel-council.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2eb1fc8f5899b968/6988cc5fcf40a87738c4794f/merriam-webster-donald-trump-counsel-council.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Palestinians-Israel-US","caption":"Palestinians-Israel-US","creditText":"NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4770763/merriam-webster-corrects-donald-trump-tweet/","name":"Merriam-Webster Just Reminded Donald Trump About the Difference Between 'Counsel' and 'Council'"}}]}] ```