government

[ guhv-ern-muh nt, ‐er-muh nt ]

/ ˈgʌv ərn mənt, ‐ər mənt /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR government ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the political direction and control exercised over the actions of the members, citizens, or inhabitants of communities, societies, and states; direction of the affairs of a state, community, etc.; political administration: Government is necessary to the existence of civilized society.

the form or system of rule by which a state, community, etc., is governed: monarchical government; episcopal government.

the governing body of persons in a state, community, etc.; administration.

a branch or service of the supreme authority of a state or nation, taken as representing the whole: a dam built by the government.

(in some parliamentary systems, as that of the United Kingdom)

the particular group of persons forming the cabinet at any given time: The prime minister has formed a new government.
the parliament along with the cabinet: The government has fallen.

direction; control; management; rule: the government of one's conduct.

a district governed; province.

political science.

Grammar. the extablished usage that requires that one word in a sentence should cause another to be of a particular form: the government of the verb by its subject.

Origin of government

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Old French word governement. See govern, -ment

usage note for government

See collective noun.

pronunciation note for government

Normal phonological processes are reflected in a variety of pronunciations for government. Most commonly, the first

[n] /n/ of

[guhv-ern-muh nt] /ˈgʌv ərn mənt/ assimilates to the immediately following

[m] /m/, with the resulting identical nasal sounds coalescing to give the pronunciation

[guhv-er-muh nt] /ˈgʌv ər mənt/. This pronunciation is considered standard and occurs throughout the U.S. For speakers in regions where postvocalic

[r] /r/ is regularly lost, as along the Eastern Seaboard and in the South, the resulting pronunciation is

[guhv-uh-muh nt] /ˈgʌv ə mənt/ or, with loss of the medial unstressed vowel,

[guhv-muh nt] /ˈgʌv mənt/. Further assimilation, in which the labiodental

[v] /v/, in anticipation of the bilabial quality of the following

[m] /m/, becomes the bilabial stop

[b] /b/, leads in the South Midland and Southern U.S. to the pronunciation

[guhb-muh nt] /ˈgʌb mənt/. See isn't.

OTHER WORDS FROM government

gov·ern·men·tal

[guhv-ern-men-tl, ‐er-men‐] /ˌgʌv ərnˈmɛn tl, ‐ərˈmɛn‐/, adjective gov·ern·men·tal·ly, adverb coun·ter·gov·ern·ment, noun non·gov·ern·ment, noun

non·gov·ern·men·tal, adjective pro-gov·ern·ment, adjective re·gov·ern·ment, noun sem·i·gov·ern·men·tal, adjective sem·i·gov·ern·men·tal·ly, adverb sub·gov·ern·ment, noun un·der·gov·ern·ment, noun un·gov·ern·men·tal, adjective un·gov·ern·men·tal·ly, adverb

Words nearby government

gov., govern, governador valadares, governance, governess, government, government house, government issue, government man, government national mortgage association, government of the people, by the people, and for the people

Example sentences from the Web for governmental

You need to build the system and run the sport as a governmental responsibility.

Putin’s Hockey Pal Tells All: Slava Fetisov on ‘Red Army,’ Soviet Nostalgia, and What Drives Putin |Marlow Stern |October 9, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
It will also take a concerted effort by Muslim, governmental, and other community leaders working together to counter extremism.

It'll Take More Than Bombs to Stop ISIS |Dean Obeidallah |September 2, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
There had been British governmental discussions that the islands could be leased back to Argentina.

The Never-Ending Falklands War: In Buenos Aires, A Museum's Selective History |Michael Luongo |August 30, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The emphasis on freshness and simplicity laid forth by the governmental guidelines is in line with his cooking ethos.

Meet the Chef Fighting to Ensure That Brazilians Will Never Be as Fat as Americans |Brandon Presser |June 25, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Because without both money and governmental will, we could be in for a long, hot summer.

The Ebola Outbreak in West Africa Is Just Getting Worse |Kent Sepkowitz |June 23, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
As parts of a governmental organic series, this fact of localization was highly necessary.

Ancient Society |Lewis Henry Morgan
The greatest incentive in modern times to the production of inventions is governmental protection.

Inventions in the Century |William Henry Doolittle
Little, if at all, inferior in importance to governmental publications, are the fruits of private research.

The Rise of the Hugenots, Vol. 1 (of 2) |Henry Martyn Baird
It contains a well-devised Bill of Rights, and makes all necessary provision for governmental organization and conduct.

Cuba, Old and New |Albert Gardner Robinson
These special circumstances are mentioned to show the peculiar character of their social and governmental life.

Ancient Society |Lewis Henry Morgan

British Dictionary definitions for governmental

government

/ (ˈɡʌvənmənt, ˈɡʌvəmənt) /

noun

the exercise of political authority over the actions, affairs, etc, of a political unit, people, etc, as well as the performance of certain functions for this unit or body; the action of governing; political rule and administration

the system or form by which a community, etc, is ruled tyrannical government

the executive policy-making body of a political unit, community, etc; ministry or administrationyesterday we got a new government
(capital when of a specific country)the British Government

the state and its administrationblame it on the government
(as modifier)a government agency

regulation; direction

grammar the determination of the form of one word by another word

Derived forms of government

governmental (ˌɡʌvənˈmɛntəl, ˌɡʌvəˈmɛntəl), adjective governmentally, adverb

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

government

noun

Origin of government

usage note for government

pronunciation note for government

OTHER WORDS FROM government

Words nearby government

Example sentences from the Web for governmental

British Dictionary definitions for governmental

noun

Derived forms of government

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

government

noun

Origin of government

usage note for government

pronunciation note for government

OTHER WORDS FROM government

Words nearby government

Words related to governmental

Example sentences from the Web for governmental

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []) .push({}); British Dictionary definitions for governmental

noun

Derived forms of government

British Dictionary definitions for governmental