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Sovereign Power
Sovereign has everything to do with power. It often describes a person who has supreme power or authority, such as a king or queen. God is described as "sovereign" in a number of Bible translations. In addition to describing ones who have power, the word sovereign also often describes power: to have sovereign power is to have absolute power—that is, power that cannot be checked by anyone or anything. Nations and states are also sometimes described as "sovereign." This means that they have power over themselves; their government is under their own control, rather than under the control of an outside authority.
Sovereign can also be a synonym of supreme as in "of the most exalted kind." In that case, the power is figurative rather than literal.
Synonyms
Noun
Adjective
Examples of sovereign in a Sentence
Raquel Cepeda, Vibe, May 1999
During these two centuries the throne of Scotland was occupied by no more than seven sovereigns of only four different generations.
—G. W. S. Barrow, The Anglo-Norman Era In Scottish History, 1980
after the current sovereign dies, the monarchy may be abolished
Adjective
Local officials and a huge and enthusiastic crowd greeted Napoleon at the Portoferraio harbor. The Allies had granted him the title of Emperor of Elba, which was to be a sovereign state under his jurisdiction.
—David Pryce-Jones, National Review, 4 July 2005
If Cleopatra VII used her own personality more like Elizabeth I than Elizabeth II, she seems to have had the latter Elizabeth's sovereign sense of duty—as well as her fertility: With a dispatch usually associated with the gods, Cleopatra bore Caesar a son called Caesarion—"little Caesar"—in 47 B.C.E., the year after they met (she was twenty-one, he fifty-two).
—Ingrid D. Rowland, New Republic, 1 & 8 April 2002
the sovereign power of a king
The government's sovereign duty is to protect the rights of its citizens.
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Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 28 Nov. 2023
King Charles was also decked out in accordance with the white tie dress code for the state banquet, wearing his decorations, medals, the Garter Star and the Thistle Stars along with the neck order, the sovereign's badge of the Order of the Bath.
—Stephanie Petit, Peoplemag, 21 Nov. 2023
OpenAI’s board of directors has chosen to wield its inhibitory power, but its members are not A.I. sovereigns; their employees can always go elsewhere.
—Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2023
So the issue became about Jerusalem, and people toyed with all sorts of ideas, even that God will be the sovereign over the Temple Mount.
—Emily Bazelon, New York Times, 20 Nov. 2023
Queen Camilla is known to follow Queen Elizabeth’s style lead, from using clear umbrellas to carrying a Launer clutch, the late sovereign’s go-to handbag brand.
—Janine Henni, Peoplemag, 7 Nov. 2023
The illustration Radburn found stands out in that it is described in a contemporaneous account and appears to reference not just British nobility but the sovereign in particular.
—Karla Adam, Washington Post, 28 Sep. 2023
But the change of sovereign for the first time in seven decades has energized the republican movement and given greater urgency to questions about the role of the monarchy in modern times.
—Karla Adam, Washington Post, 7 Sep. 2023
For 20 years, the role of the sovereign has belonged to Fred Nelson of Glen Burnie.
—Mike Klingaman, Baltimore Sun, 18 Sep. 2023
Janine Henni, Peoplemag, 21 Nov. 2023
And, in awakening Dorothy to her own inner resources, Granite awakens the young woman’s sense of her fellow-humans as sovereign selves.
—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2023
Altman was also courting Middle East sovereign wealth funding for the development of AI chips that would compete with Nvidia’s, according to Bloomberg.
—WIRED, 18 Nov. 2023
The latter is a sovereign country with its own government, citizens, economy, and complex dynamics.
—Sarah E. Parkinson, Foreign Affairs, 14 Nov. 2023
Two-State Solution: The idea of Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side in their own sovereign countries is getting a new hearing in foreign-policy circles, with diplomats and analysts saying that the war may breathe new life into it.
—Andrés R. Martínez, New York Times, 6 Nov. 2023
But Taiwan’s current government regards the island as a de facto sovereign country.
—Laura He, CNN, 23 Oct. 2023
The new commercial joint venture will be 70% majority owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, while the South Korean automaker will control the remaining minority stake.
—Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2023
These are penalties piled on national governments, as well as their companies, officials and tycoons, usually leveled as punishment for violating human rights at home, or unleashing their platoons and planes to grab territory from another sovereign state.
—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 11 Nov. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sovereign.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Noun
Middle English soverain, from Anglo-French soverein, from soverein, adjective — see sovereign entry 2
Adjective
Middle English soverain, from Anglo-French soverein, from Vulgar Latin *superanus, from Latin super over, above — more at over
Noun
13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Adjective
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Phrases Containing sovereign
Dictionary Entries Near sovereign
Cite this Entry
“Sovereign.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sovereign. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
sovereign
1 of 2 noun
sovereign
2 of 2 adjective
Medical Definition
sovereign
adjective
Legal Definition
sovereign
1 of 2 nounAlden v. Maine, 527 U.S. 706 (1999)sovereign
2 of 2 adjective
More from Merriam-Webster on sovereign
Nglish: Translation of sovereign for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of sovereign for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about sovereign
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