governance
noun
Simple meaning
The specific system by which a political system is ruled.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
guhvernuhnsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡʌvɚnəns
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of governing; exercising authority
The process, or the power, of governing; government or administration.
The specific system by which a political system is ruled.
The state of being governed.
The group of people who make up an administrative body.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of governing; exercising authority
Used this way, governance is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Official and authoritative
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Power
Specific
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The head of a state government.
The organization that is the governing authority of a political unit.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: governing
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.