counseled

Counseled is the past tense and past participle of the verb counsel. It denotes that someone has been given advice or guidance, or that someone acted in a consulting capacity to provide guidance. In legal contexts, to counsel a client can mean to advise or represent them, and a lawyer who counseled a client has performed that function.

In everyday use, counseled appears in references to professional or informal guidance. For example, a doctor might counsel a patient on treatment options, a school counselor might counsel a student on course selection, or a therapist might counsel a client on coping strategies. The term is often used with the object receiving advice: the client, patient, student, or individual who was counseled.

Spelling and variants: American English typically uses counseled as the past tense, while British English often uses the variant counselled. The related noun forms are counsel (advising entity or act) and counselor or counsellor (the person who provides advice). The verb counsel originates from Latin consilium, meaning advice or plan, via Old French conseil and related forms, and it carries a sense of advising, guiding, or advising on courses of action. The word is commonly used across professional domains, including law, education, health care, and personal development.