Definitions for govern
ˈgʌv ərngov·ern

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:2.5 / 2 votes

1. regulate, regularize, regularise, order, governverb

   bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations

   "We cannot regulate the way people dress"; "This town likes to regulate"

2. governverb

   direct or strongly influence the behavior of

   "His belief in God governs his conduct"

3. govern, ruleverb

   exercise authority over; as of nations

   "Who is governing the country now?"

4. governverb

   require to be in a certain grammatical case, voice, or mood

   "most transitive verbs govern the accusative case in German"

WiktionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

1. governverb

   To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.

2. governverb

   To control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain.

3. governverb

   To exercise a deciding or determining influence on.

   Chance usually governs the outcome of the game.

4. governverb

   To control the speed, flow etc. of; to regulate.

   a valve that governs fuel intake.

5. governverb

   To exercise political authority; to run a government.

6. governverb

   To have or exercise a determining influence.

7. governverb

   To require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word; sometimes used synonymously with collocate.

8. Etymology: and governer, guberno, from κυβερνάω

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. To GOVERNverb

   Etymology: gouverner, French; guberno, Latin.

   1. To rule as a chief magistrate.

   This inconvenience is more hard to be redressed in the governor than the governed; as a malady in a vital part is more incurable than in an external. Edmund Spenser, on Ireland.

   Slaves to our passions we become, and then
   It grows impossible to govern men. Edmund Waller.

   2. To regulate; to influence; to direct.

   The welfare of that is the chief point, which he is to carry always in his eye, and by which he is to govern all his counsels, designs, and actions. Francis Atterbury, Sermons.

   3. To manage; to restrain.

   Go after her, she’s desperate; govern her. William Shakespeare, K. Lear.

   4. [In grammar.] To have force with regard to syntax: as, amo governs the accusative case.5. To pilot; to regulate the motions of a ship.

2. To Governverb

   To keep superiority; to behave with haughtiness.

   By that rule,
   Your wicked atoms may be working now
   To give bad counsel, that you still may govern. Dryden.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. govern

   To govern means to conduct the policy, actions, and affairs of a state, organization, or people with authority. It may also refer to control, influence, or regulate a particular action, course, or process. Additionally, it suggests to rule over a political unit, such as a nation, state, or a city.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Governverb

   to direct and control, as the actions or conduct of men, either by established laws or by arbitrary will; to regulate by authority

2. Governverb

   to regulate; to influence; to direct; to restrain; to manage; as, to govern the life; to govern a horse

3. Governverb

   to require to be in a particular case; as, a transitive verb governs a noun in the objective case; or to require (a particular case); as, a transitive verb governs the objective case

4. Governverb

   to exercise authority; to administer the laws; to have the control

5. Etymology: [OF. governer, F. gouverner, fr. L. gubernare to steer, pilot, govern, Gr. kyberna^n. Cf. Gubernatorial.]

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Govern

   guv′ėrn, v.t. to direct: to control: to rule with authority: (gram.) to determine the mood, tense, or case of.—v.i. to exercise authority: to administer the laws.—adj. Gov′ernable.—ns. Gov′ernall (Spens.), government; Gov′ernance, government: control: direction: behaviour; Governante (guv-ėr-nant′, or guv′-), a governess (obs.); Gov′erness, a lady who has charge of the instruction of young ladies: a tutoress (Daily-governess, one who goes every day to her pupils' house; Nursery-, having charge of young children only, tending as well as teaching them; Resident-, living in the family of her pupils).—v.i. to act as governess.—n. Gov′erness-cart, a light two-wheeled vehicle with two face-to-face seats at the sides only.—adj. Gov′erning, having control.—n. Gov′ernment, a ruling or managing: control: system of governing: the body of persons authorised to administer the laws, or to govern a state: the territory over which sovereign power extends: (gram.) the power of one word in determining the form of another: (Shak.) conduct.—adj. of or pursued by government.—adj. Government′al, pertaining to or sanctioned by government.—ns. Gov′ernor, a ruler: one invested with supreme authority: a tutor: (slang) a father or master: (mach.) a regulator, or contrivance for maintaining uniform velocity with a varying resistance: (B.) a pilot; Gov′ernor-gen′eral, the supreme governor in a country: a viceroy; Gov′ernorship.—Governmental theory (see Grotian). [O. Fr. governer—L. gubernāre—Gr. kybernan.]

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. govern

   To create, direct and manage using unifying, just, fair, ethical and moral thought, behavior, actions and all forms of unity governmental legislation.

   All forms of unity government throughout a country create with a sense of ethics and morality to govern a nation with respect and dignity and ensure all people have optimum health, human rights, right to life and a fair share of income, wealth and resources.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on February 15, 2020  

2. ---

   govern

   To direct and manage.

   The board of directors did govern justly and effectively.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on March 7, 2020  

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. govern

   The govern symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the govern symbol and its characteristic.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. GOVERN

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Govern is ranked #71478 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Govern surname appeared 273 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Govern.
   
   88.2% or 241 total occurrences were White.
   4.7% or 13 total occurrences were Black.
   2.9% or 8 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
   2.5% or 7 total occurrences were of two or more races.

Matched Categories

1. • Control
   • Require

British National Corpus

1. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'govern' in Verbs Frequency: #622

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

1. 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How to pronounce govern?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say govern in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of govern in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of govern in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of govern in a Sentence

1. Hakeem Jeffries:

   Republicans are extreme on gun safety and want our communities flooded with weapons of war. Republicans are extreme in trying to deny women the freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions. Republicans are extreme with respect to the January 6th insurrection, and it appears that many of them no longer believe in democracy. Republicans are extreme on Social Security on August 15 and Social Security and Medicare, which they want to end in five years, and Republicans are extreme in their inability to actually support legislation that would lower costs for everyday Americans, republicans are out of touch with the American people and undeserving of the opportunity to govern.

2. Superintendent Aaron Leavell:

   The district is in no way taking away an athletic coach's freedom of expression, what we are doing is what every state-funded agency and school district must do : abide by the laws that govern us.

3. Oscar James:

   As to myself and my people, we are not seeking social equality. That is a thing no law can govern, we simply ask to be allowed an equal chance in the race of life.

4. James Madison, (attributed):

   We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind of self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.

5. Chetan Dube:

   The question we would ask is, ‘Does all infrastructure need to be managed by people? Or is the infrastructure capable of self-managing, self-governing and self-healing?’ my father used to have some power plants, and I would go there, and they would have almost nobody managing them, because almost all the processes of remediation were built in. The technological maturity curve that almost any industry goes through has a level of evolution. At some point, can the systems, the network and the servers become self-aware and self-governing? IPcenter was the product realization of adaptive learning systems that would be able to self-govern. That was our first big steppingstone toward cognitive technologies.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=govern
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Govern
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=govern
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/govern
6. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=govern
7. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html
8. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=govern