sovereignty
Pluralsovereignties
- 1The capacity of a nation or polity to control its own resources, make laws independently, and govern itself without coercion by other states.
International law treats sovereignty as the foundation of every recognized state's authority.
The treaty required member nations to surrender some sovereignty to a central body.
Similarindependence, nationhood, nationality
Oppositedependence, subjugation
Note
Political thought moved the word from the ruler to the people. Thomas Paine insists in 1791 that it 'appertains to the Nation only, and not to any individual.' John Stuart Mill calls it the 'supreme controlling power in the last resort.' It sits close to independence and nationhood but is not the same thing. Manuel Valls argued in 2019 that formal independence can bring less real sovereignty, not more. That is why states can surrender part of it.
- 2The supreme authority or dominion that a ruler, especially a monarch, holds over a realm or its people.
The monarch's sovereignty extended over every province in the empire.
Rebels challenged the emperor's sovereignty by refusing to pay tribute.
Similardominion, supremacy, rule, authority, power
Note
The oldest line of the word runs through French: Late Middle English sovereynte, from Anglo-Norman and Old French soveraineté, which is soverain plus -té, the suffix that names a quality. Here that quality belongs to a ruler, and it pairs with over or in: sovereignty over a realm, or lands a king holds in sovereignty. Shakespeare's King John laments France treading down 'fair respect of Sovereignty.'
- 3An individual's liberty to decide their own actions and thoughts.
Modern ethics places great weight on personal sovereignty in matters of belief.
He guarded his sovereignty fiercely, refusing to let anyone dictate his decisions.
Similarautonomy, independence, freedom, liberty, self-determination
- 4A nation, territory, or other political unit that governs itself independently or is ruled by a sovereign.
The treaty recognized the breakaway region as a separate sovereignty.
Medieval Europe was a patchwork of competing sovereignties and shifting borders.
Similarstate, nation, country, polity, realm
Oppositedependency, colony
Note
Here the abstract quality becomes a place you can count, so it takes a plural: sovereignties. Henry More writes in 1681 of 'particular Sovereignties.' Joseph Morgan, in 1732, describes Christians erecting 'diverse small Sovereignties, with Regal Titles.' Where self-government names what a state has, this sense names the state itself.
- 5Supreme excellence, or a commanding mastery of some skill or task.
The pianist's sovereignty at the keyboard left the audience spellbound.
Few rivals could match his sovereignty in the art of debate.
Similarmastery, supremacy, preeminence, superiority, dominance
Note
Supremacy of quality rather than of rule. Marlowe praises the 'curious sovereignty of Art' in the making of a head. In Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well, a father's prescriptions 'of rare and proved effects' are kept 'for general sovereignty,' meaning excellence as a remedy's power to work. The step to mastery is short: whatever rules its field excels in it.
Practice
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Origin
This word comes from Late Middle English sovereynte, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sovereyneté and Old French soveraineté, formed from soverain plus a noun-forming suffix. Soverain goes back to Vulgar Latin *superānus ('chief; sovereign'), from Latin super ('above; on top of'), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *upér ('above, over'). In English it can be read as sovereign plus -ty.