sovereign
Americannoun
-
sovereigns
plural
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a monarch; a king, queen, or other supreme ruler.
-
a person who has supreme power or authority.
-
a group or body of persons or a state having sovereign authority.
- Synonyms:
- government
-
a gold coin of the United Kingdom, equal to one pound sterling: went out of circulation after 1914.
adjective
-
belonging to or characteristic of a sovereign or sovereign authority; royal.
-
having supreme rank, power, or authority.
-
supreme; preeminent; indisputable.
a sovereign right.
- Synonyms:
- predominant, principal, paramount, chief
-
greatest in degree; utmost or extreme.
-
being above all others in character, importance, excellence, etc.
-
efficacious; potent.
a sovereign remedy.
noun
-
a person exercising supreme authority, esp a monarch
-
a former British gold coin worth one pound sterling
adjective
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supreme in rank or authority
a sovereign lord
-
excellent or outstanding
a sovereign remedy
-
of, relating to, or characteristic of a sovereign
-
independent of outside authority
a sovereign state
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonsovereignnoun
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subsovereignnoun
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undersovereignnoun
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quasi-sovereignadjective
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supersovereignadjective
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unsovereignadjective
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nonsovereignlyadverb
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sovereignlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sovereign
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English soverain, altered by influence of reign, from Old French soverain, from Vulgar Latin superānus (unrecorded), equivalent to Latin super- super- + -ānus -an
Explanation
Put simply, your sovereign is your king or queen. George III was the sovereign of Great Britain and her colonies — including the American ones. At least he was until a little thing called the Revolutionary War upset everything. Sovereign as an adjective can be used to indicate the ultimate power of a state, whether a monarchy or not, as in "Peru exercised its sovereign rights to all minerals within its borders." A sovereign is also a British gold coin with a face value of one pound sterling (with the monarch's face on it). But don't sell it for a pound, because it's worth its weight in gold — quite literally — which is a lot more than a pound is worth.
Vocabulary lists containing sovereign
"On Women's Right to Vote" by Susan B. Anthony
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Chains
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American Born Chinese
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He wants his legacy to be the one who "pioneered... the industrialisation of Africa", he told Nicolai Tangen, the head of Norway's sovereign wealth fund, in a podcast earlier this year.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
“The 10-year OAT-Bund spread already tightened around 7 basis points both sides on Friday from above 170bp, levels only seen at the height of the sovereign debt crisis in 2011,” the rates strategist says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
Russia has long maintained a presence on the archipelago, which became sovereign Norwegian territory a century ago but is governed by a treaty that allows almost any country to do business there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
The European Central Bank between 2015 and 2021 supported the eurozone sovereign debt market by buying government bonds from third parties like banks.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
The hot, bright yolk was like a summer sun breaking through cloud, the first daffodil in the snow, a gold sovereign wrapped in a white silk handkerchief.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
“The two sovereigns, acting as one, attempted to ensure that Mr. Mangione would be prosecuted twice for the same criminal acts,” Mangione’s lawyers wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Tim Ash, senior strategist at RBC Bluebay Asset Management, pointed out in a posting on X, that sovereigns do not request swap lines lightly.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 20, 2026
Dina McCormick will work on “partnering with governments and sovereigns to build, deploy, invest in, and finance Meta’s infrastructure,” according to Zuckerberg.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
The group will work with McCormick “on partnering with governments and sovereigns to build, deploy, invest in, and finance Meta’s infrastructure,” said Zuckerberg in a Facebook post.
From Barron's ● Jan. 12, 2026
There is a reward of one thousand sovereigns for giving her up to them.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
