Wiktionary

govern

See also: Govern and govèrn

English

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Etymology

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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”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.
    The old king governed the land wisely.
  2. (intransitive) To exercise political authority; to run a government.
    • 2025 April 28, Ross Douthat, Nick Adams, “Condition of America”, in New Left Review‎[1], number 152, →ISSN, archived from the original on 22 August 2025:
      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.
  3. (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.
    • 2022 June 12, Katie Hunt, “How zoology got female animals all wrong”, in CNN‎[2], archived from the original on 17 August 2022:
      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.
  4. (transitive) To exercise a deciding or determining influence on.
    Chance governs the outcome of many card games.
  5. (intransitive) To have or exercise a determining influence.
  6. (transitive, obsolete) To handle, to manage, to oversee (a matter, an affair, a household, etc.).
  7. (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[3], 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.
  8. (transitive, obsolete) To direct the course of, to guide in some direction, to steer.
  9. (transitive, obsolete) To look after, to take care of, to tend to (someone or some plant).
  10. (transitive, obsolete) To manage, to control, to work (a tool or mechanical device).
  11. (transitive, grammar) To require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word.
    Synonym: (sometimes) collocate
    Coordinate term: agree
    • 1968, John Lyons, Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 241:
      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).

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

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govern (plural governs)

  1. The act of governing

Catalan

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Etymology

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From the verb governar, or possibly from Late Latin gubernus or gubernius,[1] from Latin gubernum or gubernō.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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govern m (plural governs)

  1. government
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References

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  1. ^ “govern”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

Further reading

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