sovereign
Noun pluralsovereigns
Pluralsovereigns
- 1Exercising the power to govern, as a nation that rules itself does.
After the war the former colony became a sovereign nation with its own army and currency.
Each sovereign state controls its own borders and writes its own laws.
UsageMost often before nation or state: a sovereign nation, a sovereign state.
Similarindependent, autonomous, self-governing
- 2Holding the highest and final power, with no authority above it.
He ruled as sovereign lord of the island, answerable to no one.
Under the new constitution the people hold sovereign authority, and every official answers to them.
UsageOften before power, authority or right: sovereign power.
Similarsupreme, absolute, ultimate, paramount
Oppositesubordinate
- 3A reigning king or queen, or more broadly the person or body that holds supreme power in a state.
The new sovereign was crowned before a congregation of foreign princes and diplomats.
Ambassadors present their credentials to the sovereign before taking up their posts.
Similarmonarch, ruler, king, queen
Oppositesubject
Note
The ruler need not wear a crown. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the bed of the Mississippi belongs to the sovereign, that is, to the nation, and Shakespeare's Lucrece (1594) makes the sea the salt sovereign of the streams. Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) spells it Sovran, closer to the Italian sovrano.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- A sovereign can be a nation rather than a monarch, as illustrated by Jefferson's statement about the Mississippi riverbed. gutenberg.org
- Shakespeare wrote Lucrece, first published in 1594. shakespearedocumented.folger.edu
- Lucrece describes the sea as the streams' salt sovereign; the words occur in Tarquin's speech. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
- Milton's Paradise Lost was first published in 1667. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
- The 1667 text of Paradise Lost uses the spelling Sovran. darkwing.uoregon.edu
- Italian has the corresponding form sovrano, which the spelling Sovran more closely resembles. en.wiktionary.org
- 4Coming from, held by, or backed by a country's national government, used mainly in finance, as in sovereign debt or a sovereign wealth fund.
Pension funds hold sovereign bonds because they are seen as a safe place to park money.
A sovereign guarantee allowed the state airline to borrow at a much lower interest rate.
UsageUsed before a noun: sovereign bonds, sovereign default, sovereign risk.
Note
Here the old idea of supreme power narrows to money: sovereign debt is owed or guaranteed by the national government, not merely by a city or a company. A sovereign wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund, mostly fed by commodity exports or currency reserves; a few, like the Alaska Permanent Fund, belong to a state or province.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The idea of supreme power is an older meaning of sovereign. en.wiktionary.org
- A sovereign wealth fund is a government-owned investment fund. ifswf.org
- Most sovereign wealth funds receive their funding from commodity exports or foreign exchange reserves. en.wikipedia.org
- Some sovereign wealth funds belong to subnational governments; the Alaska Permanent Fund belongs to the State of Alaska. ifswf.org
- 5A British gold coin with a face value of one pound, still struck today but bought and sold mainly for its gold.
Her grandfather left her a sovereign in a velvet box, minted in the year he was born.
Many investors buy sovereigns as a simple way to own a little gold.
- 6In finance, a country's government considered as a borrower, one that sells bonds and is given credit ratings.
Emerging-market sovereigns sold a record amount of bonds in the first quarter.
Lending to a sovereign with a weak credit rating carries a higher risk of default.
Note
Bond markets and rating agencies use the noun for a state seen purely as a debtor: a sovereign can be downgraded, default, or return to the market with new bonds. In market talk it is often plural (emerging-market sovereigns, European sovereigns), and here it never points to a person, unlike the monarch, the noun's older meaning.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The noun sovereign has an older meaning referring to a monarch, attested in Middle English. en.wiktionary.org
- 7
Less common meanings
- 8Short for sovereign citizen: a person who claims not to be bound by the laws or courts of their country, often relying on pseudo-legal arguments.
The driver insisted he was a sovereign and refused to hand over his license.
A self-described sovereign buried the county court in pages of pseudo-legal filings.
UsageClear only in context. On first mention sovereign citizen is safer, since sovereign alone usually means a monarch.
- 9Greatest, highest or best; above all others in degree, importance or quality.
The philosopher held that happiness is the sovereign good of human life.
He treated their threats with sovereign contempt and went on with his work.
UsageUsed in phrases such as the sovereign good and sovereign contempt.
Similarsupreme, highest, greatest, utmost, paramount
Note
Theology and philosophy keep it in sovereign good, the good that ranks above every other: Richard Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity acknowledges God as our sovereign good. Outside that phrase it mostly intensifies an attitude, as in sovereign contempt, a scorn so complete it hardly bothers to notice its object.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Richard Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity acknowledges God as our sovereign good. luminarium.org
- 10A person who is not the subject of any ruler or nation.
In the state of nature, the philosopher argued, each man is a sovereign, bound to no king or state.
The settlers on the frontier saw themselves as sovereigns who owed allegiance to no distant crown.
Oppositesubject
- 11Of a medicine or remedy, extremely potent or effective.
Her grandmother swore that ginger tea was a sovereign remedy for a sore throat.
On long voyages sailors trusted lime juice as a sovereign cure for scurvy.
UsageSurvives mainly in a sovereign remedy or a sovereign cure for something.
Note
Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590) has a sovereign weed pounded between two stones and its juice squeezed into a wound, and Shakespeare stretches the adjective into a superlative in The First Part of Henry the Fourth: the sovereign'st thing on earth was parmaceti for an inward bruise.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene, whose first three books were first published in 1590. en.wikisource.org
- The poem describes a sovereign weed being pounded between two stones and its juice squeezed into a wound. luminarium.org
- Shakespeare uses the superlative sovereign'st and the quoted wording in The First Part of Henry the Fourth. en.wiktionary.org
- The quotation belongs to the play's dialogue: Hotspur reports what an unnamed lord told him. gutenberg.org
- 12A chunky gold ring set with a sovereign coin or a copy of one, also called a sovereign ring.
He turned up to the pub in a shell suit with a chunky sovereign on his little finger.
The bouncer's fists were covered in sovereigns, with a heavy gold ring on almost every finger.
Note
British slang that comes with a social picture: chunky rings worn several at a time, with heavy gold, as part of a look others tend to mock. A Merseyside speaker recorded for BBC Voices in 2004 counts loads of sovereigns among the marks of a scally, and a Harrods ladies' code reported in 2011 banned them alongside hoop earrings.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Sovereign is British slang for a large, garish ring, also called a sovereign ring. en.wiktionary.org
- The cited BBC Voices recording was made in Birkenhead, Merseyside, in 2004. en.wiktionary.org
- The speaker includes loads of sovereigns and gold in a description of a scally. en.wiktionary.org
- A report about Harrods' ladies' code appeared in 2011. en.wiktionary.org
- The reported code banned sovereigns alongside hoop earrings. en.wiktionary.org
- 13A giant champagne bottle holding about 26 liters, as much as 35 standard bottles.
Taittinger reportedly made the first sovereign in 1988 for the launch of a giant new cruise ship.
Pouring from a sovereign takes two people and a special cradle.
- 14To rule over a land or people as its monarch or supreme ruler.
- 15Any of the North American butterflies once placed in the genus Basilarchia (now part of Limenitis), such as the viceroy.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English sovereyn, from Old French soverain (modern French souverain), from Vulgar Latin *superānus, from Latin super, “above.” The spelling was influenced by a folk link with reign. It is a doublet of soprano, which comes from the same Latin root through Italian.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Sovereign derives from Middle English sovereyn, through Old French soverain and Vulgar Latin *superānus, from Latin super, meaning “above”; modern French souverain also descends from soverain. en.wiktionary.org
- The spelling was influenced by a folk-etymological association with reign. en.wiktionary.org
- Sovereign and soprano are doublets, with soprano deriving from the same Latin root through Italian. en.wiktionary.org