Link Centre Dictionary

govern

go·vern

UK/ˈɡʌv.ən/ US/ˈɡʌv.ɚn/ fairly common

verb

1.

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

  • “We cannot regulate the way people dress”
  • “This town likes to regulate”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

direct or strongly influence the behavior of

  • “His belief in God governs his conduct”
3.

exercise authority over; as of nations

  • “Who is governing the country now?”
Synonyms
4.

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

  • “most transitive verbs govern the accusative case in German”

Origin

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”).

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.