govern
/'gʌvən/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb:
- To exercise continuous sovereign authority over; to rule: To control and direct the making and administration of policy in a political unit, such as a state or nation.
- To control, influence, or regulate: To determine, guide, or decisively affect the course of action, behavior, or events.
- To require to be in a certain grammatical case, voice, or mood: In grammar, for a word (especially a verb or preposition) to determine the case or form of another word in a sentence.
- To serve as a principle or law that determines: To be the prevailing or decisive factor in a situation.
Usage Examples
- Verb (Rule a nation):
- The elected officials govern the country according to its constitution.
- Who will govern the province after the governor's resignation?
- Verb (Control or influence behavior):
- Ethical principles should govern our business decisions.
- Fear governed his actions for many years.
- Verb (Grammar):
- In Latin, prepositions govern specific cases; for example, 'ad' governs the accusative.
- The verb 'insist' can govern a subjunctive mood in formal English.
Advanced Usage
- "to govern oneself": To exercise self-control or self-restraint.
- Despite the provocation, she managed to govern herself and remain calm.
- "governing body": A group of people who officially control and direct an institution.
- The university's governing body approved the new policy.
- "governed by": Determined or influenced by a particular factor.
- The design of the building is governed by strict safety codes.
Variants and Related Words
- Government (n): The system or group of people governing an organized community, often a state.
- The federal government announced new economic measures.
- Governor (n): The elected executive head of a U.S. state or an official appointed to govern a region or institution.
- The governor will give a speech at the ceremony.
- Governance (n): The action or manner of governing.
- Good corporate governance is essential for investor confidence.
- Governing (adj): Having authority to control or rule.
- The governing party introduced the legislation.
Synonyms
- Rule: To exercise ultimate power or authority over a people and administration.
- Control: To exercise restraining or directing influence over.
- Regulate: To govern or direct according to rule.
- Administer: To manage or supervise the execution, use, or conduct of.
- Direct: To guide the affairs or course of.
Related Phrasal Verbs
(Note: 'Govern' is not commonly used with particles to form standard phrasal verbs. Its meanings are typically expressed through the verb itself or related nouns.)
Related Idioms
- "A government of laws, not of men": A principle that governmental authority is legitimately exercised only in accordance with written, publicly disclosed laws.
- "To be a law unto oneself": To behave in a way that ignores rules or conventions, acting as if one is not governed by them. (This is an antonymic concept related to governance.)
- He doesn't follow the company protocol; he's a law unto himself.
Verb
- require to be in a certain grammatical case, voice, or mood
- most transitive verbs govern the accusative case in German
- exercise authority over; as of nations
- Who is governing the country now?
- direct or strongly influence the behavior of
- His belief in God governs his conduct
- bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations
- We cannot regulate the way people dress
- This town likes to regulate