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govern. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
govern, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
govern in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
govern you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English governen, governe, from Anglo-Norman and Old French governer, guverner, from Latin gubernō, from Ancient Greek κυβερνάω (kubernáō, “I steer, drive, govern”).
Pronunciation
Verb
govern (third-person singular simple present governs, present participle governing, simple past and past participle governed)
- (transitive) To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.
The old king governed the land wisely.
- (intransitive) To exercise political authority; to run a government.
- (transitive) To control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain.
Govern yourselves like civilized people.
a student who could not govern his impulses
2016, Justin Deschamps, Find the strength, courage, and discipline to govern yourself or be governed by someone else.:Find the strength, courage, and discipline to govern yourself or be governed by someone else.
- (transitive) To exercise a deciding or determining influence on.
Chance governs the outcome of many card games.
- (intransitive) To have or exercise a determining influence.
- (transitive, obsolete) To handle, to manage, to oversee (a matter, an affair, a household, etc.).
- (transitive) To control the speed, flow etc. of; to regulate.
a valve that governs fuel intake
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 June 2022, page 33: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.
- (transitive, obsolete) To direct the course of, to guide in some direction, to steer.
- (transitive, obsolete) To look after, to take care of, to tend to (someone or some plant).
c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: 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:from my vncles country of Medea,
Where all my youth I haue bene gouerned, […]
- (transitive, obsolete) To manage, to control, to work (a tool or mechanical device).
- (transitive, grammar) To require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word; sometimes used synonymously with collocate.
- Coordinate term: agree
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to exercise sovereign authority in
- Afrikaans: regeer (af)
- Albanian: qeveris (sq)
- Arabic: حَكَمَ (ar) (ḥakama), تَحَكَّمَ (taḥakkama), مَلَكَ (ar) (malaka)
- Egyptian Arabic: حكم (ḥakam)
- Armenian: կառավարել (hy) (kaṙavarel)
- Asturian: gobernar
- Azerbaijani: idarə etmək (az)
- Belarusian: пра́віць impf (právicʹ), кірава́ць impf (kiravácʹ)
- Bengali: শাসন করা (śaśon kora)
- Bulgarian: управля́вам (bg) impf (upravljávam)
- Burmese: အုပ်စိုး (my) (upcui:), ကြီးကဲ (my) (kri:kai:)
- Catalan: governar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 治理 (zh) (zhìlǐ), 治 (zh) (zhì), 統治/统治 (zh) (tǒngzhì)
- Czech: vládnout (cs) impf, řídit (cs) impf
- Danish: regere (da) over, beherske, styre (da)
- Dutch: regeren (nl), besturen (nl)
- Egyptian: (ḥqꜣ)
- Estonian: valitsema, juhtima
- Finnish: hallita (fi)
- French: gouverner (fr)
- Friulian: guviernâ
- Galician: governar
- Georgian: მართვა (martva), მმართველობა (mmartveloba), მართავს (martavs), მმართველობს (mmartvelobs)
- German: regieren (de), steuern (de)
- Greek: κυβερνώ (el) (kyvernó)
- Ancient: εὐθύνω (euthúnō)
- Haitian Creole: gouvène
- Hebrew: מָשַׁל (he) (mashál)
- Hindi: हुकूमत करना (hukūmat karnā), शासन करना (śāsan karnā)
- Hungarian: kormányoz (hu), vezet (hu), igazgat (hu), irányít (hu)
- Icelandic: stjórna
- Indonesian: memerintah (id)
- Italian: governare (it)
- Japanese: 支配する (ja) (しはいする, shihai suru), 統治する (ja) (とうちする, tōchi suru)
- Kazakh: басқару (basqaru)
- Khmer: គ្រប់គ្រង (km) (krup krɔɔng)
- Korean: 통치하다 (tongchihada), 다스리다 (ko) (daseurida)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: rêvebirin (ku), îdare kirin (ku)
- Kyrgyz: башкаруу (ky) (başkaruu)
- Lao: ປົກຄອງ (pok khǭng)
- Latin: gubernō, regō
- Latvian: valdīt
- Lithuanian: valdyti
- Macedonian: управува impf (upravuva)
- Malay: memerintah
- Maltese: iggverna
- Maori: kāwana, whakahaere tikanga
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: удирдах (mn) (udirdax)
- Mongolian: ᠤᠳᠤᠷᠢᠳᠬᠤ (uduridqu)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: regjere (no), styre (no)
- Oromo: bulchuu
- Pashto: حکومت کول (hokumatkawᶕl), حکم چلول (hokémčalawǝ́l)
- Persian: حکومت کردن (fa) (hokumat kardan)
- Polish: rządzić (pl) impf, władać (pl) impf
- Portuguese: governar (pt)
- Romanian: guverna (ro)
- Romansch: reger, riger, regner, regnar
- Russian: пра́вить (ru) impf (právitʹ), управля́ть (ru) impf (upravljátʹ)
- Sanskrit: राष्टि (rāṣṭi)
- Sardinian: cuberrare, gruvennae, guvernai, guvernare
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: у̀прављати impf, вла́дати impf
- Roman: ùpravljati (sh) impf, vládati (sh) impf
- Sicilian: cuvirnari, guvirnari
- Slovak: vládnuť impf, riadiť impf
- Slovene: vladati (sl) impf
- Spanish: gobernar (es)
- Swedish: regera (sv), härska (sv), styra (sv)
- Tajik: идора кардан (tg) (idora kardan)
- Tatar: башкарырга (başkarırga)
- Tetum: ukun
- Thai: ปกครอง (th) (bpòk-krɔɔng)
- Turkish: hüküm sürmek (tr), idare etmek (tr)
- Turkmen: dolandyrmak
- Ukrainian: пра́вити impf (právyty), керува́ти impf (keruváty)
- Urdu: حکومت کرنا (hukūmat karnā)
- Uzbek: boshqarmoq (uz), idora qilmoq
- Venetian: goernar (vec), guernar (vec), governar
- Vietnamese: cai trị (vi)
- Volapük: reigön (vo), guverön (vo)
- Welsh: arglwyddïo
- Yiddish: רעגירן (regirn)
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to control the actions of
to exercise a determining influence on
to control the speed or magnitude of
(intr.) to exercise political authority
(intr.) to have a determining influence
grammar: to require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word
Translations to be checked
Noun
govern (plural governs)
- The act of governing
Catalan
Etymology
From the verb governar, or possibly from Late Latin gubernus or gubernius, from Latin gubernum or gubernō.
Pronunciation
Noun
govern m (plural governs)
- government
Related terms
References
Further reading