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
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
Benjamin DeMottEnron, and the corporate disasters that followed, forced many companies to get serious about governance.—Louis Lavelle
Louis LavelleTheirs was the perennial problem of quick-witted subjects under the governance of dull-witted administrators.—Declan Kiberd
Declan KiberdMichael 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
U.S. News & World ReportExamples 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
Climate shocks, conflict, deepening inequality, and shrinking aid flows have derailed progress, while fragmented governance and political short-termism have left the global food system dangerously exposed.
—Daphne Ewing-Chow, Forbes.com, 29 Mar. 2025
And injecting chemicals into the stratosphere does present serious ethical and governance challenges.
—Brett Simpson, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 2025
Under the new governance structure, arXiv’s migration to the cloud and a refactoring of the code base to Python finally took off.
—Sheon Han, Wired News, 27 Mar. 2025
Columbia’s decision to comply with federal demands, including disciplining students and restructuring governance, was framed by the university as a pragmatic step to preserve critical research funding and avoid operational crises[2][3].
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2025
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Daphne Ewing-Chow, Forbes.com, 29 Mar. 2025
And injecting chemicals into the stratosphere does present serious ethical and governance challenges.
—Brett Simpson, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 2025
Under the new governance structure, arXiv’s migration to the cloud and a refactoring of the code base to Python finally took off.
—Sheon Han, Wired News, 27 Mar. 2025
Columbia’s decision to comply with federal demands, including disciplining students and restructuring governance, was framed by the university as a pragmatic step to preserve critical research funding and avoid operational crises[2][3].
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for governance
Cite this Entry
“Governance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/governance. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
governance
noun
gov·er·nance
ˈgəv-ər-nən(t)s
: the exercise of control : government
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