Definitions for government
ˈgʌv ərn mənt, -ər məntgov·ern·ment

Wiktionary(3.93 / 16 votes)Rate this definition:

1. governmentnoun

   The body with the power to make and/or enforce laws to control a country, land area, people or organization.

   Etymology: From governement, from governement (French gouvernement), from gubernatio, from κυβερνισμός, κυβέρνησις, from κυβερνάω + -ment.

2. governmentnoun

   A group of people who hold a monopoly on the legitimate use of force in a given territory.

   Etymology: From governement, from governement (French gouvernement), from gubernatio, from κυβερνισμός, κυβέρνησις, from κυβερνάω + -ment.

3. governmentnoun

   The state and its administration viewed as the ruling political power.

   Etymology: From governement, from governement (French gouvernement), from gubernatio, from κυβερνισμός, κυβέρνησις, from κυβερνάω + -ment.

4. governmentnoun

   The management or control of a system.

   Etymology: From governement, from governement (French gouvernement), from gubernatio, from κυβερνισμός, κυβέρνησις, from κυβερνάω + -ment.

5. governmentnoun

   The tenure of a chief of state.

   Etymology: From governement, from governement (French gouvernement), from gubernatio, from κυβερνισμός, κυβέρνησις, from κυβερνάω + -ment.

Princeton's WordNet(3.30 / 40 votes)Rate this definition:

1. government, authorities, regimenoun

   the organization that is the governing authority of a political unit

   "the government reduced taxes"; "the matter was referred to higher authorities"

2. government, governing, governance, government activity, administrationnoun

   the act of governing; exercising authority

   "regulations for the governing of state prisons"; "he had considerable experience of government"

3. governmentnoun

   (government) the system or form by which a community or other political unit is governed

   "tyrannical government"

4. politics, political science, governmentnoun

   the study of government of states and other political units

Webster Dictionary(2.70 / 10 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Governmentnoun

   the act of governing; the exercise of authority; the administration of laws; control; direction; regulation; as, civil, church, or family government

   Etymology: [F. gouvernement. See Govern.]

2. Governmentnoun

   the mode of governing; the system of polity in a state; the established form of law

   Etymology: [F. gouvernement. See Govern.]

3. Governmentnoun

   the right or power of governing; authority

   Etymology: [F. gouvernement. See Govern.]

4. Governmentnoun

   the person or persons authorized to administer the laws; the ruling power; the administration

   Etymology: [F. gouvernement. See Govern.]

5. Governmentnoun

   the body politic governed by one authority; a state; as, the governments of Europe

   Etymology: [F. gouvernement. See Govern.]

6. Governmentnoun

   management of the limbs or body

   Etymology: [F. gouvernement. See Govern.]

7. Governmentnoun

   the influence of a word in regard to construction, requiring that another word should be in a particular case

   Etymology: [F. gouvernement. See Govern.]

The Roycroft Dictionary(4.33 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

1. government

   A kind of legalized pillage.

U.S. National Library of Medicine(5.00 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Government

   The complex of political institutions, laws, and customs through which the function of governing is carried out in a specific political unit.

Dictionary of Nautical Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. government

   Generally means the constitution of our country as exercised under the legislature of king or queen, lords, and commons.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. government

   The Constitution of the United States provides that Congress shall make rules for the government and regulation of armies. By government is understood not only the body of fundamental laws of a state, but also the body of persons charged with the management of the executive power of a country; direction, power or authority which rules a community; administration; rule; management. Government of the military is that branch of the code which embraces the creation and regulation of the military hierarchy, or the gradual distribution of inferior authority. The power of making rules of government is that of supreme command, and from this living principle proceed the localization of troops, their organization and distribution; rules for rewards and punishments; and generally, all rules of government and regulation whatsoever, which the legislature may judge necessary to maintain an efficient and well-disciplined army. All authority over the land forces of the United States must, therefore, be derived from Congress. For, although the President is the commander-in-chief, yet his functions, as such, must be regulated by Congress, under the 17th clause of Sec. 8 of the Constitution, as well as under the general authority of Congress to make rules for the government and regulation of the land forces. The President cannot be divested of power which Congress may assign to any inferior military commander, because the authority of the greater includes that of the less. But all the authority over the land and naval forces, save the appointment of the commander-in-chief, rests with Congress, and no authority can be exercised not delegated by Congress, except such as may be fairly deduced from powers given for the effective discharge of the duties annexed to his office.

Editors Contribution(4.00 / 8 votes)Rate this definition:

1. government

   A system of socialist governance created from an election with a number of elected members of a socialist political party and a number of elected socialist independent politicians elected to form an organized socialist governing structure and system within a local area, regional area, country, europe or internationally united to work together, working and functioning like a social enterprise and focus positively on cocreating optimum health, democracy, human rights, socialism, equal and shared prosperity for all, stability, unity, solidarity, cohesion, animal rights, right to life, right to housing, fasttrack of social housing, council housing, public housing on public land building projects, right to free education, fasttrack of SDG social enterprise creation and development, right to parent, right to free preschool education, right to a standard of living, creation of a equal and identical wage for all system and a universal living income system, right to internet access, economic stability, financial stability, civil rights, equal rights, equal opportunities, employment rights, childrens rights, sustainable development, sustainable development goals, united partnership, multi-party working, community empowerment systems, equal redistribution of wealth, fairness and justness across society, the country, europe and the world and contribute to the cocreation of international and national peace agreements, peace treaties, the universes truth and a fair, just and transparent system of checks and balances. This group employs a moderate amount of employees who all receive equal and identical pay and holiday entitlement. All profit earned is used to reinvest in the organization where just and fair or redistribute to the united nations for the UN SDG. All members of this organization are accountable to the rule of law like all citizens.

   Governments globally are changing with democracy as humanity chooses socialist unity governments across the world where governments are united to represent the collective voice of their citizens and take collective accountability for the management of their countries and create the local, regional and national governmental structures and systems to reflect these changes and work and function like a social enterprise.

   Submitted by MaryC on August 21, 2016  

Suggested Resources(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. government

   The government symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the government symbol and its characteristic.

Matched Categories

1. • Government
   • Social Science
   • System

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'government' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #126

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'government' in Written Corpus Frequency: #328

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'government' in Nouns Frequency: #10

How to pronounce government?

1. Alex

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

How to say government in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of government in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of government in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of government in a Sentence

1. Vangelis Meimarakis:

   The first party that I would turn to would be the one that ranked second, if the second party does not want to join in, I will turn to the parties which believe in the country's European course and with which we can at least agree on a plan of a viable government, hopefully a four-year term one.

2. Matteo Salvini:

   Dear German government, I'm not reopening the ports ... if anything we're going to put ... (the migrants) in a car and take them to the German embassy, if someone is used to considering Italy a dumping site for all the problems Europe pretends not to see, that's over. And this applies to the French and the Dutch.

3. House Speaker Paul Ryan:

   I can’t say I’m surprised because people want self-government, they want sovereignty, they want self-determination, and I can’t say that I would feel differently if I were a citizen of Great Britain when you have people from other countries regulating your country, writing your laws, i can clearly relate to the thinking behind the Brexit vote.

4. Esperanza Huayama:

   Justice for us would be for the government to ensure that this never happens again. They need to say sorry. We're waiting for an apology.

5. Chairman James Leigh-Pemberton:

   I believe that realising a total of at least 25 billion from the sale of RBS shares -- representing over three-quarters of the government's stake in RBS at the current market price -- is feasible in the period to May 2020, while delivering value for money for the taxpayer, provided market conditions are supportive.

Images & Illustrations of government

Popularity rank by frequency of use