government

American  

[guhv-ern-muhnt, ‑er-muhnt] / ˈgʌv ərn mənt, ‑ər mənt /

noun

• governments
  plural

1. 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.

2. the form or system of rule by which a state, community, etc., is governed.

   monarchical government; episcopal government.

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

4. a branch or service of the supreme authority of a state or nation, taken as representing the whole.

   a dam built by the government.

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

   1. the particular group of persons forming the cabinet at any given time.

      The prime minister has formed a new government.

   2. the parliament along with the cabinet.

      The government has fallen.

6. direction; control; management; rule.

   the government of one's conduct.

7. a district governed; province.

8. political science.

9. 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.

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government British  

/ ˌɡʌvəˈmɛntəl, ˌɡʌvənˈmɛntəl, ˈɡʌvənmənt, ˈɡʌvəmənt /

noun

1. 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

2. the system or form by which a community, etc, is ruled

   tyrannical government

3. 1. the executive policy-making body of a political unit, community, etc; ministry or administration

      yesterday we got a new government

   2. ( capital when of a specific country )

      the British Government

4. 1. the state and its administration

      blame it on the government

   2. ( as modifier )

      a government agency

5. regulation; direction

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

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Grammar

See collective noun.

Pronunciation

Normal phonological processes are reflected in a variety of pronunciations for government. Most commonly, the first of assimilates to the immediately following , with the resulting identical nasal sounds coalescing to give the pronunciation . This pronunciation is considered standard and occurs throughout the U.S. For speakers in regions where postvocalic is regularly lost, as along the Eastern Seaboard and in the South, the resulting pronunciation is or, with loss of the medial unstressed vowel, . Further assimilation, in which the labiodental , in anticipation of the bilabial quality of the following , becomes the bilabial stop , leads in the South Midland and Southern U.S. to the pronunciation . See isn't.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• countergovernment
  noun
• nongovernment
  noun
• regovernment
  noun
• subgovernment
  noun
• undergovernment
  noun
• governmental
  adjective
• nongovernmental
  adjective
• pro-government
  adjective
• semigovernmental
  adjective
• ungovernmental
  adjective
• governmentally
  adverb
• semigovernmentally
  adverb
• ungovernmentally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• governments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of government

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

Explanation

Your government is the system of people, laws, and officials that define and control the country that you live in. The U.S. government, for example, is a representative democracy with three branches. There are many different kinds of government, but they all do essentially the same thing: "govern" or oversee the rules, regulations, and interactions of the people who live under them. For the most part, a government is concerned with public life, though many of the laws that a government like ours establishes and enforces can regulate what happens in private life, too. If you work for the government, you're in public life. If you work for a company, you're in the private sector.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

government governments

The policy was scrapped in 2023 but the UK government said it would not be applied retrospectively.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

The UK government and the antitrust watchdog both cleared the deal after initially raising concerns over media plurality and competition, respectively.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

Beijing restricts Tesla vehicles from certain government and military locations because of concerns about cameras and data.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

“The federal government is just so big, and the population is so big versus in states, it’s much smaller.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Many said they felt they had been misled by the Japanese government during the disaster, so they refused to trust the government’s assurances that the towns were safe after the cleanup.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

The move comes as the U.S. and other Western governments race to secure the raw materials that are used in tank armor, weapons and engine components, but are largely controlled by China.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Back in 2021, activists had successfully lobbied the state of New Jersey to prohibit municipal and county governments as well as private facilities from entering into new contracts with ICE to house immigration detainees.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

The number of places in jails in England and Wales has not kept pace with the significant rise in the prison population in recent decades under successive governments.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

They are not paid by foreign governments or overseas exporters, but by domestic businesses and importers when goods arrive at customs.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

Sometimes—not very often, for inevitably it caused sadness—people described their places of origin: places with cruel governments, harsh punishments, desperate poverty, or false comforts.

From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry

Related Words

• authority
• law
• ministry
• politics
• power
• regime
• rule
• state
• union