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

Success requires getting your hands directly on data governance and quality controls before rolling out any personalization initiatives. —Jody Bhagat, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025

Additionally, depending on the industry, firms are constrained by various factors when considering shifts in supply chains, such as the availability of supply inputs, infrastructure, the quality and cost of local labor, regulation and governance. —Dylan Butts,anniek Bao, CNBC, 9 Apr. 2025

In our view, city leaders must recognize and address concerns about crime, governance and social issues while actively working to improve public perceptions of their cities. —Zachary Russell, The Conversation, 8 Apr. 2025

Part of the problem is that, in the Brazilian legislature, corruption and criminality are so endemic as to be inextricable from the job of governance. —Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 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