governance

noun

gov·​er·​nance ˈgə-vər-nən(t)s 

plural governances

: the act or process of governing or overseeing the control and direction of something (such as a country or an organization) : government

a centralized system of governance

the challenges of national governance

… the governance of amateur sport in America …

—P. S. Wood

… three years before he died, [Lionel] Trilling pressed the point that the way a nation thinks determines in the end the quality of its governance.

—Benjamin DeMott

Enron, and the corporate disasters that followed, forced many companies to get serious about governance.

—Louis Lavelle

Theirs was the perennial problem of quick-witted subjects under the governance of dull-witted administrators.

—Declan Kiberd

Michael Dukakis, at the 1988 Democratic convention, said governance was about competence, not ideology. He got it half right: Competence is important to governance, but ideology is critical …

—U.S. News & World Report

Synonyms

• government
• administration
• rule
• regime

Examples of governance in a Sentence

They have very different approaches to the governance of the city.

after World War II, the four Allied nations shared the governance of the territory of postwar Germany under the Allied Control Council

Recent Examples on the Web

Smotrich demanded there be no agreement on Palestinian Authority or Qatari involvement in Gazan governance, nor anything that supports the concept of a future independent Palestinian state. —David Brennan, ABC News, 29 Sep. 2025

In a new report shared with CFO Daily, ISACA—a global association for IT governance, security, risk, and audit professionals—surveyed more than 3,800 cybersecurity experts. —Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 29 Sep. 2025

Joe Garcia spoke bitterly about the decline of governance on both sides of the Straits of Florida. —Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025

Discussions on keeping the board fully elected have arisen as talks continue with the new Indianapolis Local Education Alliance group and how its recommendations will shape governance structures for central Indiana’s largest school district. —Caroline Beck, IndyStar, 26 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

see govern

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing governance

• self-governance

Kids Definition

governance

noun

gov·​er·​nance ˈgəv-ər-nən(t)s 

: the exercise of control : government