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Govern

//ˈɡʌv.ən// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of governing
Verb
  1. 1
    To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in. transitive

    "The old king governed the land wisely."

  2. 2
    direct or strongly influence the behavior of wordnet
  3. 3
    To exercise political authority; to run a government. intransitive

    "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."

  4. 4
    bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations wordnet
  5. 5
    To control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain. transitive

    "Govern yourselves like civilized people."

Show 10 more definitions
  1. 6
    exercise authority over; as of nations wordnet
  2. 7
    To exercise a deciding or determining influence on. transitive

    "Chance governs the outcome of many card games."

  3. 8
    require to be in a certain grammatical case, voice, or mood wordnet
  4. 9
    To have or exercise a determining influence. intransitive
  5. 10
    To handle, to manage, to oversee (a matter, an affair, a household, etc.). obsolete, transitive
  6. 11
    To control the speed, flow etc. of; to regulate. transitive

    "a valve that governs fuel intake"

  7. 12
    To direct the course of, to guide in some direction, to steer. obsolete, transitive
  8. 13
    To look after, to take care of, to tend to (someone or some plant). obsolete, transitive

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

  9. 14
    To manage, to control, to work (a tool or mechanical device). obsolete, transitive
  10. 15
    To require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word. transitive

    "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)."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”).

Etymology 2

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”).

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