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

Data Governance: Are our AI models heavily dependent on accurate and reliable data models and governance? —Omar Choucair, Forbes.com, 16 May 2025

The 10 teams are also yet to agree fresh governance terms with the FIA for the new Concorde Agreement that starts next year, but the commercial terms with FOM have already been finalized. —Luke Smith, New York Times, 16 May 2025

Japanese shares will also benefit from the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s corporate governance reforms, which has prioritized shareholder returns, Asset Management One International wrote in note. —Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 16 May 2025

Since its inception in 1920, Lebanon’s governance has been defined by a polarized and formally sectarian political system, which seeded the roots of a decades-long civil conflict that began in 1975. —Mireille Rebeiz, The Conversation, 15 May 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