govern Definition

govern
verb governed, governing

tr & intr
1. To control and direct the affairs of (a country, state, or organization).

Thesaurus: rule, command, oversee, preside, control, reign, supervise, administer, manage, regulate.
2. To guide or influence; to control or restrain.

Example: govern his temper
3. grammar.
Said of a word or part of speech: to dictate the case² (sense 7), mood² (sense 1) or inflectional ending of another, closely associated word.
Example: prepositions that govern the accusative

Derivative: governable
adj

Derivative: governing
adj

Etymology: 13c: from Latin gubernare, from Greek kybernaein to steer.