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

• administration
• authority
• government
• jurisdiction
• regime
• régime
• regimen
• rule

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

Senators Scott Wiener and Aisha Wahab have introduced The Connect Bay Area Act (SB 1031), which would authorize a regional ballot measure for sustainable transportation funding and introduce governance reforms to integrate fragmented systems. —Ian Griffiths, The Mercury News, 20 Apr. 2024

Alice Xiang is a distinguished researcher, accomplished author, and governance leader who has dedicated her career to uncovering the most pernicious facets of AI—many of which are rooted in data and the AI development process. —Alice Xiang, Fortune, 19 Apr. 2024

The National Rifle Association reached a settlement on Wednesday with the District of Columbia’s attorney general, agreeing to make governance changes that would curtail its use of millions of dollars raised by an affiliated charity accused of mishandling tax-deductible donations. —Danny Hakim, New York Times, 17 Apr. 2024

It was already ground down from multiple rounds of destruction and rebuilding, poor governance, and the Israeli-Egyptian economic blockade; some of the buildings that were bombed had been constructed out of concrete from previous buildings that had been bombed. —Keith Gessen, The New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2024

The Nordic country also routinely scores extremely high in global surveys, indexes and reports that compare countries on various quality of life and good governance metrics. —Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, 13 Apr. 2024

Joe Biden’s governance has made inflation inevitable. —Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, 10 Apr. 2024

And the Chinese people—from ruling elites to everyday citizens—would find inspiration to explore new models of development and governance that don’t rely on repression at home and compulsive hostility abroad. —Matt Pottinger, Foreign Affairs, 10 Apr. 2024

But a series of governance changes ended with DeepMind being bound by the same AI principles that apply to Google at large. —Billy Perrigo, TIME, 8 Apr. 2024

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