Ungovernable

adj

adj ·5 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Not governable; unable to be governed.

    "The concern about ungovernability in the United States often takes the form of complaints about “single-issue” politics and the limited influence and discipline of American political parties. Thus our next question is, Why are some modern societies to some degree ungovernable?"

  2. 2
    Unable to be managed or controlled.

    "a man with an ungovernable temper"

Adjective
  1. 1
    incapable of being controlled wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
unmanageablebeyond controlbreachycontumaciousdefiantdisobedient

Example

More examples

"This is Morocco's untamable and ungovernable frontier."

Etymology

From un- + governable.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.