govern

gov·ern
G2O1V4E1R1N1
UK/ˈɡʌv.ən/Canada, US/ˈɡʌv.ɚn/Australia, New Zealand/ˈɡɐv.ən/

verb

To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.

“The old king governed the land wisely.”

Similar
collocateregulateregularizeregulariseorderrule
OriginMiddle English governen ← Old French governer ← Latin gubernō →
CommonScrabble 10
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Meanings

verbgovern (third-person singular simple present governs, present participle governing, simple past and past participle governed)

present singular third person governs · participle present governing · participle past governed · past governed

  1. transitiveTo make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.

    The old king governed the land wisely.

  2. intransitiveTo exercise political authority; to run a government.

    Americans are not libertarians in the Cato Institute sense of the word, but they are folk libertarians in this sense of impulsive behaviour, which is a feature of American life that anyone who wants to govern the United States, Democratic or Republican, has to be aware of.

    2025 April 28, Ross Douthat, Nick Adams, “Condition of America”, in New Left Review, number 152, →ISSN, archived from the original on 22 Aug 2025
  3. transitiveTo control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain.

    Govern yourselves like civilized people.

    3 more examples

    a student who could not govern his impulses

    Find the strength, courage, and discipline to govern yourself or be governed by someone else.

    2016, Justin Deschamps, Find the strength, courage, and discipline to govern yourself or be governed by someone else.

    This female hyena also gets erections and is larger, more aggressive than the male hyenas and lives in matrilineal clans of up to 80 individuals governed by an alpha female matriarch.

    2022 June 12, Katie Hunt, “How zoology got female animals all wrong”, in CNN, archived from the original on 17 Aug 2022
  4. transitiveTo exercise a deciding or determining influence on.

    Chance governs the outcome of many card games.

  5. intransitiveTo have or exercise a determining influence.
  6. obsoletetransitiveTo handle, to manage, to oversee (a matter, an affair, a household, etc.).
  7. transitiveTo control the speed, flow etc. of; to regulate.

    a valve that governs fuel intake

    2 more examples

    The weight and c.g. of the aircraft were within limits at takeoff and were calculated to have remained so until the tail began to disintegrate in flight. Both engines were developing a high level of power at impact, and the APU was rotating at or near governed speed. The landing gear, flaps, and spoiler/speed brakes were retracted. There was no evidence of structural or system failures other than those directly resulting from the fire.

    1968 April 18, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.1 Analysis”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Mohawk Airlines, Inc., BAC 1-11, N1116J, Near Blossburg, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1967, archived from the original on 24 Jun 2022, page 33

    The investigation reveals that flutter onset is consistently governed by the coupling of the first two structural modes, establishing the primary instability boundary, while a secondary instability pathway involving the third and fourth modes uniquely emerges for the fully extended wing.

    2026, Tianxing Chen, Kun Guo, Huichao Deng, Yuchen Xia, Hao Luo, Yunlong Li and Xiuwei Tian, “Flutter Analysis of a Morphing Wing Considering Fluid–Thermal–Structure Coupling”, in AIAA Journal
  8. obsoletetransitiveTo direct the course of, to guide in some direction, to steer.
  9. obsoletetransitiveTo look after, to take care of, to tend to (someone or some plant).

    from my vncles country of Medea, Where all my youth I haue bene gouerned, […]

    c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii
  10. obsoletetransitiveTo manage, to control, to work (a tool or mechanical device).
  11. transitivegrammarTo require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word.

    In Latin (Russian, German, etc.), not only verbs, but also prepositions, may govern the noun, pronoun or noun-phrase dependent upon them in a particular case: e.g. ad urbem, ‘to the city’ (ad ‘takes the accusative’: urbem) v. ab urbe, ‘from the city’ (ab ‘takes the ablative’: urbe).

    1968, John Lyons, Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 241

    Synonyms: collocate

noungovern (plural governs)

plural governs

  1. The act of governing

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word.

Similar
collocate

More synonyms by meaning

verbbring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations

Similar
regulateregularizeregulariseorder
Broader
decidemake up one's minddetermine

verbexercise authority over; as of nations

Similar
rule
Broader
controlcommand
Also see
behedgebindcheckcontrolcurbhamshacklehold downinfluenceorderregularizeregulaterepressrulerulingstiflesubduesuppressunderbringwithstrain

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekκυβερνάω“to steer, drive, govern”
  2. Latingubernō
  3. Old Frenchgoverner
  4. Middle Englishgovernen
  5. Englishgovern

From Middle English governen, governe, from Anglo-Norman and Old French governer, guverner, from Latin gubernō, from Ancient Greek κυβερνάω (kubernáō, “to steer, drive, govern”). Displaced native Old English wealdan, whence modern dialectical English wald (“to govern”).

More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans regeer, regeer
  • regeerto exercise sovereign authority in
  • regeer(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • heers(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • beheerto control the actions of
  • heers(intr.) to have a determining influence
  • beheerto control the speed or magnitude of
  • bepaalto control the speed or magnitude of
  • reguleerto control the speed or magnitude of
  • bepaalto exercise a determining influence on
Ancient Greek εὐθύνω, εὐθύνω
  • εὐθύνω (euthúnō)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • εὐθύνω (euthúnō)to exercise a determining influence on
Arabic حَكَمَ, تَحَكَّمَ
  • حَكَمَ (ḥakama)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • تَحَكَّمَ (taḥakkama)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • مَلَكَ (malaka)to exercise sovereign authority in
Bengali শাসন করা
  • শাসন করা (śaśon kora)to exercise sovereign authority in
Bulgarian управля́вам, управля́вам
  • управля́вам (upravljávam)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • управля́вам (upravljávam)(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • направля́вам (napravljávam)to control the actions of
  • влия́я (vlijája)(intr.) to have a determining influence
  • регули́рам (regulíram)to control the speed or magnitude of
  • влия́я (vlijája)to exercise a determining influence on
Catalan governar, governar
  • governarto exercise sovereign authority in
  • governar(intr.) to exercise political authority
Chinese Cantonese 統攝 /统摄
  • 統攝 /统摄to control the actions of
Chinese Mandarin 治理, 治
  • 治理 (zhìlǐ)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • 治 (zhì)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • 統治 /统治 (tǒngzhì)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • 統攝 /统摄 (tǒngshè)to control the actions of
Czech vládnout, řídit
  • vládnoutto exercise sovereign authority in
  • říditto exercise sovereign authority in
  • vládnout(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • ovládatto control the actions of
  • ovládatto control the speed or magnitude of
  • říditto exercise a determining influence on
Danish regere over, beherske
  • regere overto exercise sovereign authority in
  • behersketo exercise sovereign authority in
  • styreto exercise sovereign authority in
  • regere(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • styre(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • styreto control the actions of
  • herske(intr.) to have a determining influence
  • styreto control the speed or magnitude of
  • ledeto control the speed or magnitude of
  • bestemmeto exercise a determining influence on
Dutch regeren, besturen
  • regerento exercise sovereign authority in
  • besturento exercise sovereign authority in
  • regeren(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • leiden(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • beheersento control the actions of
  • regelento control the speed or magnitude of
  • bepalento exercise a determining influence on
Estonian valitsema, juhtima
  • valitsemato exercise sovereign authority in
  • juhtimato exercise sovereign authority in
Finnish hallita, hallita
  • hallitato exercise sovereign authority in
  • hallita(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • hallitato control the actions of
  • määrätä(intr.) to have a determining influence
  • säätääto control the speed or magnitude of
  • vaatiagrammar: to require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word
  • määrätäto exercise a determining influence on
French gouverner
  • gouvernerto exercise sovereign authority in
German regieren, steuern
  • regierento exercise sovereign authority in
  • steuernto exercise sovereign authority in
  • regieren(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • regulierento control the actions of
  • regeln(intr.) to have a determining influence
  • regelnto control the speed or magnitude of
  • lenkento exercise a determining influence on
Greek κυβερνώ
  • κυβερνώ (kyvernó)to exercise sovereign authority in
Hebrew מָשַׁל
  • מָשַׁל (mashál)to exercise sovereign authority in
Hindi हुकूमत करना, शासन करना
  • हुकूमत करना (hukūmat karnā)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • शासन करना (śāsan karnā)to exercise sovereign authority in
Hungarian kormányoz, vezet
  • kormányozto exercise sovereign authority in
  • vezetto exercise sovereign authority in
  • igazgatto exercise sovereign authority in
  • irányítto exercise sovereign authority in
  • kormányoz(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • irányít(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • uralkodikto control the actions of
  • irányítto control the actions of
  • szabályozto control the actions of
  • féken tartto control the actions of
  • szabályozto control the speed or magnitude of
  • vezérelto control the speed or magnitude of
Icelandic stjórna
  • stjórnato exercise sovereign authority in
Indonesian memerintah
  • memerintahto exercise sovereign authority in
Italian governare
  • governareto exercise sovereign authority in
Japanese 支配する, 統治する
  • 支配する (shihai suru)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • 統治する (tōchi suru)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • 支配するgrammar: to require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word
Korean 통치하다, 다스리다
  • 통치하다 (tongchihada)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • 다스리다 (daseurida)to exercise sovereign authority in
Latin gubernō, regō
  • gubernōto exercise sovereign authority in
  • regōto exercise sovereign authority in
Latvian valdīt
  • valdītto exercise sovereign authority in
Lithuanian valdyti
  • valdytito exercise sovereign authority in
Malay memerintah
  • memerintahto exercise sovereign authority in
Māori kāwana, whakahaere tikanga
  • kāwanato exercise sovereign authority in
  • whakahaere tikangato exercise sovereign authority in
Norwegian Bokmål regjere, styre
  • regjereto exercise sovereign authority in
  • styreto exercise sovereign authority in
Persian حکومت کردن
  • حکومت کردن (hokumat kardan)to exercise sovereign authority in
Polish rządzić, władać
  • rządzićto exercise sovereign authority in
  • władaćto exercise sovereign authority in
  • rządzićto control the actions of
  • zarządzaćto control the actions of
Portuguese governar
  • governarto exercise sovereign authority in
Romanian guverna, guverna
  • guvernato exercise sovereign authority in
  • guverna(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • reglato control the actions of
  • reglementato control the actions of
  • regularizato control the actions of
  • conduce(intr.) to have a determining influence
  • dirija(intr.) to have a determining influence
  • reglato control the speed or magnitude of
  • conduceto exercise a determining influence on
  • dirijato exercise a determining influence on
  • cârmuito exercise a determining influence on
Russian пра́вить, управля́ть
  • пра́вить (právitʹ)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • управля́ть (upravljátʹ)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • управля́ть (upravljátʹ)(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • управля́ть (upravljátʹ)to control the actions of
  • владе́ть (vladétʹ)to control the actions of
  • влия́ть (vlijátʹ)(intr.) to have a determining influence
  • регули́ровать (regulírovatʹ)to control the speed or magnitude of
  • управля́ть (upravljátʹ)to control the speed or magnitude of
  • управлять (upravljatʹ)grammar: to require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word
  • влия́ть (vlijátʹ)to exercise a determining influence on
Slovak vládnuť, riadiť
  • vládnuťto exercise sovereign authority in
  • riadiťto exercise sovereign authority in
Spanish gobernar, gobernar
  • gobernarto exercise sovereign authority in
  • gobernar(intr.) to exercise political authority
Swedish regera, härska
  • regerato exercise sovereign authority in
  • härskato exercise sovereign authority in
  • styrato exercise sovereign authority in
  • styragrammar: to require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word
Thai ปกครอง
  • ปกครอง (bpòk-krɔɔng)to exercise sovereign authority in
Turkish hüküm sürmek, idare etmek
  • hüküm sürmekto exercise sovereign authority in
  • idare etmekto exercise sovereign authority in
Ukrainian пра́вити, керува́ти
  • пра́вити (právyty)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • керува́ти (keruváty)to exercise sovereign authority in
  • керува́ти (keruváty)(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • пра́вити (právyty)(intr.) to exercise political authority
  • керува́ти (keruváty)to control the actions of
  • вплива́ти (vplyváty)(intr.) to have a determining influence
  • регулюва́ти (rehuljuváty)to control the speed or magnitude of
  • керува́ти (keruváty)to control the speed or magnitude of
  • вплива́ти (vplyváty)to exercise a determining influence on
Urdu حکومت کرنا
  • حکومت کرنا (hukūmat karnā)to exercise sovereign authority in
Vietnamese cai trị, quản trị
  • cai trịto exercise sovereign authority in
  • quản trịto exercise sovereign authority in
  • chủ quảnto exercise sovereign authority in
  • chỉ đạoto exercise sovereign authority in
Welsh arglwyddïo, awdurdodi
  • arglwyddïoto exercise sovereign authority in
  • awdurdodi(intr.) to exercise political authority
Yiddish רעגירן
  • רעגירן (regirn)to exercise sovereign authority in

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with govern

McGovernmisgovern
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

govern. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/govern

MLA

“govern.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/govern. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “govern,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/govern.

Source: govern on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.