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Government comes from Greek roots meaning what?

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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

Imports of foreign products and a small decline in government spending are both dragging on the overall GDP figure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

In neighbouring India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government was "prepared to provide Nepal with all possible types of humanitarian assistance".

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

US law enforcement on Tuesday announced the seizure of internet domains allegedly used by Chinese hackers to target government agencies and critical infrastructure.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stepped in last week in an attempt to calm the bond market by announcing bigger buybacks of long-dated U.S. government debt starting next month.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

“The government already knows where I live,” Coal said.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

The United States and several other countries frequently condemn what they say is state-backed Chinese hacking activity of governments, militaries and businesses.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

“The place to start is with a process for building the right institutions before the disruption forces governments into crisis mode,” he wrote.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

The postquantum transition will largely happen behind the scenes, handled by governments, technology providers and security vendors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Since talks facilitated by Malaysia began in 2013, the peace process has repeatedly stalled amid changing governments in Bangkok, with internal divisions on both sides.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

State governments have been forced to shift funds from public services, education, health, and welfare to pay for incarceration, and they now face unprecedented economic crises as a result.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

Related Words

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