ungovernable
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ungovernable
1665–75; un- 1 + governable ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith talks about overseeing an ungovernable government.
From Slate • Jan. 14, 2026
The 34-year-old, with scant managerial experience, will have to manage a famously ungovernable city in all of its vast complexity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025
"It's better to look at what's causing people to be ungovernable," says Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who specialises in polarised democracies.
From BBC • Sep. 18, 2025
So as I watched canary-yellow Canadian Super Scooper planes roar into Los Angeles to help douse the ungovernable firestorms threatening my home, my grieving Nova Scotian heart soared: reciprocity between old friends.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2025
She was ungovernable, flawlessly selfish, resentful, and sly.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
