governing
- 1Present participle of govern.
The coalition governing the region collapsed after a single contentious vote.
Governing well requires patience and a real willingness to compromise.
Note
One spelling, two jobs: as a participle it describes someone in the act of ruling (the coalition governing the region), and as a gerund it names the activity itself, standing as a subject or object. Like govern, it can take an object or go without one. It also reaches beyond politics to anything with a determining influence, as in the rules governing a contest. The old sense of managing a household or affair is obsolete.
governing is a form of govern
govern, verb: To make and administer the public policy and affairs of a country, state, or other political unit; to exercise sovereign authority over it. Full entry
- Spelling
- govern → governing: add -ing
Use it in a sentence
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