government

[ guhv-ern-muh nt, ‐er-muh nt ]
/ ˈgʌv ərn mənt, ‐ər mənt /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR government ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

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

Words related to governmentally

publicly, politically

Example sentences from the Web for governmentally

  • The attitude of the public toward the governmentally decreed system of social economy is not the least interesting feature of it.

    The Iron Ration |George Abel Schreiner

British Dictionary definitions for governmentally

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
  1. the executive policy-making body of a political unit, community, etc; ministry or administrationyesterday we got a new government
  2. (capital when of a specific country)the British Government
  1. the state and its administrationblame it on the government
  2. (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