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
Cite this Entry
“Governance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/governance. Accessed 6 Aug. 2026.
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