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 nearly 30-year-old legal agreement ensures minimum standards for housing, education and medical care for migrant kids in federal custody, as well limits on how long they can be held in government facilities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

More than 83,000 spaces are occupied by male inmates, despite the government introducing a presumption against jailing anyone for under one year to free up more space.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

And economists typically focus more on a different measure of government debt—that held by the public—which doesn’t include debt held within the government in Social Security trust funds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

But the coordinated attacks also underscored the vulnerability of the United States’ water facilities, prompting some obvious questions as to what the federal government has been doing, is presently doing, and perhaps should be doing.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

Only Mr. Lincoln was talking about slavery splitting the whole country in two—“I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.”

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

Both sides find hope in a provision that allows local governments to adopt alternative versions of Zone Zero, which San Diego and Berkeley have already done and Los Angeles is in the process of doing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

A global bond selloff is raising borrowing costs for governments, businesses and families, with little relief in sight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

As well as inflation fears, Canavan said there had been a "push back" across the world from bond investors over the broad financial policies and spending plans of a number of governments.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

When federal deficits swell, governments tends to issue debt to fund the spending.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026

Communist governments collapsed all over Eastern Europe, and in 1991, the once mighty Soviet Union broke apart, leaving behind Russia and fourteen newly independent states.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

Related Words

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