sovereignty

noun sov·er·eign·ty \ ˈsä-v(ə-)rən-tē , -vərn-tē also ˈsə- \

variants: or less commonly sovranty

Updated on: 12 Apr 2018

plural sovereignties

1 obsolete : supreme excellence or an example of it

2 a : supreme power especially over a body politic

b : freedom from external control : autonomy

c : controlling influence

3 : one that is sovereign; especially : an autonomous state

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Examples of sovereignty in a Sentence

Nor was the sovereignty of the Native Hawaiian race recognized at the time Hawaii became a state. —Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review, 18 July 2005
Cesaire's wrenching chant of self-affirmation announced a new era of intellectual and cultural sovereignty for black writers in French. —Lila Azam Zanganeh, New York Times Book Review, 12 June 2005
The position plunged him into a supremely complicated religious and political game. Throughout Europe the old order of divinely sanctioned kingdoms was battling models of popular sovereignty and citizenship inspired by the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and the adolescent U.S. —David Van Biema, Time, 4 Sept. 2000
upon leaving home she felt that she had achieved sovereignty for the first time in her life
as parts of the same sovereignty, the states should not enact laws intended to harm one another economically

Recent Examples of sovereignty from the Web

Misleading crime statistics, speculation about sinister plots to undermine national sovereignty and Russian propaganda have all played a role in stirring up anti-immigrant sentiment in places like Britain, Germany and Hungary.

— jeremy w. peters, New York Times, "‘You Hate America!’: How ‘the Caravan’ Story Exploded on the Right," 4 Apr. 2018
Modern trade deals have attacked national sovereignty by hobbling regulations and worker protections.

— david dayen, The New Republic, "Trump’s Theater of Trade," 27 Mar. 2018
Such cinematic sovereignty hasn’t been engineered since Avatar, James Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi epic of love and colonization.

— jason parham, WIRED, "The Ryan Coogler Effect: What Black Panther's Success Means for Black Directors," 23 Mar. 2018
In a legal quirk for the ages, a 1990s capital murder case involving two Native Americans could restore tribal sovereignty to almost half of Oklahoma for the first time in a century—unless the Supreme Court intervenes, that is.

— matt ford, The New Republic, "The Grisly Murder Case That Could Turn Half of Oklahoma Back Into Tribal Lands," 15 Mar. 2018
Ever since Judea was crushed by the Roman Empire, the Jews had possessed none of the things that made for the usual history of a nation: territory, sovereignty, power, armies, kings.

— doreen st. félix, The New Yorker, "Why Jewish History Is So Hard to Write," 14 Mar. 2018
The Basics The British ruled Hong Kong from 1841 to 1997 before handing sovereignty over to China.

— kate springer, Condé Nast Traveler, "The Essential Things to Know Before You Visit Hong Kong," 27 Feb. 2018
In his searching examination of the horse’s symbolic significance, Raulff illustrates how the animal represented notions of victory, sovereignty, wealth, death and nobility.

— melissa holbrook pierson, The Seattle Times, "‘Farewell to the Horse’ celebrates the role of horses in history," 17 Feb. 2018
Rath, a Syracuse native, initially set out to do non-profit work, studying food sovereignty rights at St. Andrews in Scotland.

— priya krishna, Bon Appetit, "You Need to Know Ashley Rath, the Powerhouse Chef Behind The Grill," 12 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sovereignty.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.