govern is one of the 1000 most common headwords. goodbye - govern - grand Pronunciation (US) IPA (key): /ˈɡʌvɚn/ (UK) IPA (key): /ˈɡʌvən/ Audio (US)(file) Hyphenation: gov‧ern Verb Plain form govern Third-person singular governs Past tense governed Past participle governed Present participle governing (transitive & intransitive) If x {\displaystyle x} governs y {\displaystyle y} , x {\displaystyle x} controls y {\displaystyle y} through laws or other rules. Synonyms: manage, control and rule The country is currently governed by the army. The market is governed by the same economic laws of supply and demand. Related words governor government governanceWikiwand - on Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.