government
noun
Simple meaning
The group of people who run a country, state or city.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
guhvermuhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡʌvɚmənt
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 state and its administration viewed as the ruling political power.
The body with the power to make and/or enforce laws to control a country, land area, people or organization.
In a parliamentary system, the political party or coalition in power; its condition of being in power.
The tenure of a head of government; the ministry or administration led by a specified individual.
uncountable
The management or control of a system.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The state and its administration viewed as the ruling political power.
Used this way, government is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Government/politics
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use government
- “The government reduced taxes.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
The process, or the power, of governing.
Political maneuvers or diplomacy between people, groups, or organizations, especially involving power, standing,….
The bodies that have political or administrative power and control in a particular sphere.
The organization that is the governing authority of a political unit.
The systematic study of government and politics.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The head of a state government.
The persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An independent nonpartisan federal agency that acts as the investigative arm of Congress making the executive branch accountable to Congress and the government accountable to citizens of…
The act of governing.
An administrative unit of government.
A representative or official of a government or administrative department of a government.
A bond that is an IOU of the United States Treasury.
A building that houses a branch of government.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The body of people who are citizens of a particular government.
An organization that is not part of the local or state or federal government.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: state and its administration viewed as the ruling political power
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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.