Usually means: Exercise authority over people, area.
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We found 33 dictionaries that define the word govern:

General (28 matching dictionaries)
  1. govern: Merriam-Webster
  2. govern: Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
  3. govern: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
  4. govern: Collins English Dictionary
  5. govern: Vocabulary.com
  6. Govern, govern: Wordnik
  7. govern: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
  8. govern: Wiktionary
  9. govern: Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed.
  10. govern: The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus
  11. govern: Infoplease Dictionary
  12. govern: Dictionary.com
  13. govern: Online Etymology Dictionary
  14. govern: Cambridge Essential American English Dictionary
  15. Govern: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
  16. Govern: Online Plain Text English Dictionary
  17. govern: Webster's Revised Unabridged, 1913 Edition
  18. govern: Rhymezone
  19. govern: AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary
  20. govern: Webster's 1828 Dictionary
  21. govern: FreeDictionary.org
  22. govern: The Phrontistery - A Dictionary of Obscure Words
  23. govern: Mnemonic Dictionary
  24. govern: TheFreeDictionary.com
  25. govern: Wikimedia Commons US English Pronunciations
  26. govern: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

Business (4 matching dictionaries)
  1. govern: Merriam-Webster Legal Dictionary
  2. Glossary of Legal Terms (No longer online)
  3. govern: Legal dictionary
  4. BusinessDictionary.com (No longer online)

Computing (1 matching dictionary)
  1. govern: Encyclopedia

(Note: See governable as well.)

Definitions from Wiktionary (
)
American English Definition British English Definition
verb:  (transitive) To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.
verb:  (intransitive) To exercise political authority; to run a government.
verb:  (transitive) To control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain.
verb:  (transitive) To exercise a deciding or determining influence on.
verb:  (intransitive) To have or exercise a determining influence.
verb:  (transitive, obsolete) To handle, to manage, to oversee (a matter, an affair, a household, etc.).
verb:  (transitive) To control the speed, flow etc. of; to regulate.
verb:  (transitive, obsolete) To direct the course of, to guide in some direction, to steer.
verb:  (transitive, obsolete) To look after, to take care of, to tend to (someone or some plant).
verb:  (transitive, obsolete) To manage, to control, to work (a tool or mechanical device).
verb:  (transitive, grammar) To require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word; sometimes used synonymously with collocate.
noun:  The act of governing

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    royal blue,     burgundy,     forest green,     maroon,     charcoal, more...



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