different between govern vs counteract

English

Etymology

From Middle English governen, governe, from Anglo-Norman and Old French governer, guverner, from Latin gubern?, from Ancient Greek ???????? (kuberná?, “I steer, drive, govern”)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /???v?n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???v?n/
• Hyphenation: gov?ern
• Rhymes: -?v?(?)n

Verb

govern (third-person singular simple present governs, present participle governing, simple past and past participle governed)

1. (transitive) To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.

2. (transitive) To control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain.
   • 2016, Justin Deschamps, Find the strength, courage, and discipline to govern yourself or be governed by someone else.

     Find the strength, courage, and discipline to govern yourself or be governed by someone else.

3. (transitive) To exercise a deciding or determining influence on.

4. (transitive) To control the speed, flow etc. of; to regulate.

5. (intransitive) To exercise political authority; to run a government.
6. (intransitive) To have or exercise a determining influence.
7. (transitive, grammar) To require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word; sometimes used synonymously with collocate.

Related terms

• government
• governance
• governor
• governess

Translations

Noun

govern (plural governs)

1. The act of governing

Catalan

Etymology

From the verb governar, or possibly from Late Latin gubernus or gubernius, from Latin gubernum or gubern?.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?o?v??n/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?u?b?rn/

Noun

govern m (plural governs)

1. government

Related terms

• governar

References

Further reading

• “govern” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “govern” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “govern” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

English

Etymology

From counter- +? act.

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /?ka?nt???ækt/
• (verb) IPA^(key): /?ka?nt???ækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Noun

counteract (plural counteracts)

1. An action performed in opposition to another action.

Verb

counteract (third-person singular simple present counteracts, present participle counteracting, simple past and past participle counteracted)

1. To have a contrary or opposing effect or force on
   • 1796, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, or, the Laws of Organic Life

     Another tide is raised at the same time on the opposite side of the revolving earth; which is owing to the greater centrifugal motion of that side of the earth, which counteracts the gravitation of bodies near its surface.

   • 1911, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica - Dome

     In India, in the “great mosque” of Jama Masjid (a.d. 1560) and the Gol Gumbaz, or tomb of Mahommed Adil Shah (a.d. 1630) at Bijapur, the domes are carried on pendentives consisting of arches crossing one another and projecting inwards, and their weight counteracts any thrust there may be in the dome.

2. To deliberately act in opposition to, to thwart or frustrate
   • 2016, Margaret Corvid writing in the New Statesman, Five practical things you can do to fight Donald Trump if you live in the UK

     When people hear my American accent, they want to talk to me about Donald Trump. They want to ask me what happened, and why. But most of all, they ask me – with fear filling their voices – what they can do, as individuals, to counteract him, here, from the United Kingdom.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hinder

Derived terms

Translations