self-government

noun

The governance of a region by its own populace; autonomy.

“The radical party agitated for the region to secede from the confederation and establish self-government.”

Similar
self-governanceself-ruleself-determination
OriginEnglish government ← Middle English self- ← Old English self- →
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Meanings

nounself-government (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe governance of a region by its own populace; autonomy.

    The radical party agitated for the region to secede from the confederation and establish self-government.

  2. dateduncountablePersonal self-control.

Synonyms & antonyms

Similar
self-governance

political

Similar
self-rule

noungovernment of a political unit by its own people

Similar
self-determinationself-rule
Broader
autonomyliberty
Also see
nationalityself-determinationself-governanceself-rule

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*swé?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
  3. Proto-Germanic*selbaz
  4. Old Englishself
  5. Old Englishself-
  6. Middle Englishself-
  7. Englishself-
  8. Englishgovernment
  9. Englishself-government

From self- + government.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Danish selvstyre
  • selvstyregovernance of a region by its own populace
Esperanto memregado
  • memregadogovernance of a region by its own populace
Finnish itsehallinto
  • itsehallintogovernance of a region by its own populace
Greek αυτοκυβέρνηση
  • αυτοκυβέρνηση (aftokyvérnisi)governance of a region by its own populace
Hindi स्वराज्य, आत्मशासन
  • स्वराज्य (svarājya)governance of a region by its own populace
  • आत्मशासन (ātmaśāsan)governance of a region by its own populace
Irish féinrialtas, féinrialú
  • féinrialtasgovernance of a region by its own populace
  • féinrialúgovernance of a region by its own populace
  • féinriailgovernance of a region by its own populace
Lithuanian savivalda
  • savivaldagovernance of a region by its own populace
Norwegian Bokmål selvstyre
  • selvstyregovernance of a region by its own populace
Polish samorząd
  • samorządgovernance of a region by its own populace
Portuguese governo autônomo
  • governo autônomogovernance of a region by its own populace
Russian самоуправление
  • самоуправление (samoupravlenije)governance of a region by its own populace
Spanish autogobierno
  • autogobiernogovernance of a region by its own populace
Swedish självstyre, autonomi
  • självstyregovernance of a region by its own populace
  • autonomigovernance of a region by its own populace
Welsh hunanlywodraeth
  • hunanlywodraethgovernance of a region by its own populace
Cite this entry
APA

self-government. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-government

MLA

“self-government.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-government. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-government,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-government.

Source: self-government on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.