govern

English

/ˈɡʌvɚn/, /ˈɡʌvən/

verb
Definitions
  • (transitive) To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.
  • (transitive) To control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain.
  • (transitive) To exercise a deciding or determining influence on.
  • (transitive) To control the speed, flow etc. of; to regulate.
  • (intransitive) To exercise political authority; to run a government.
  • (intransitive) To have or exercise a determining influence.
  • (transitive) To require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word; sometimes used synonymously with collocate.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English governen derived from Old French governer derived from Latin gubernāre, gubernō, guberno derived from Ancient Greek κυβερνάω (I steer, drive, govern, steer).

Origin

Ancient Greek

κυβερνάω

Gloss

I steer, drive, govern, steer

Concept
Semantic Field

Animals

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Emoji
🚂

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms