reign
/ɹeɪ̯n/UK/ɹeɪ̯n/
reign noun: the exercise of sovereign power.
Noun
reign (plural reigns)
- The exercise of sovereign power.
- England prospered under Elizabeth I's reign.
- Throughout history, no single dictator has successfully upheld their reign forever, no matter how powerful they seemed to be.2020 December 6, Xin Yan, “The Seemingly Impossible Is Possible”, in Minghui
- The period during which a monarch rules.
- The reign of Victoria was a long one.
- The territory or sphere over which a kingdom; empire; realm; dominion, etc. is ruled.
- And the Fox guileful, and most covetous; / That neither pleased was, to have the reign / Twixt them divided into even twain1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC
Verb
reign (third-person singular simple present reigns, present participle reigning, simple past and past participle reigned)
- To exercise sovereign power, to rule as a monarch.
- He reigned in an autocratic manner.
- Both we will raigne as Conſuls of the earth,
And mightie kings ſhall be our Senators.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
- To reign over (a country)
- The House of Piast reigned Poland from its foundation to 1385.2007, Anna Chilewska, Writing after the gaze: the rupture of the historical
- To be the winner of the most recent iteration of a competition.
- To be a dominant quality of a place or situation; to prevail, predominate, rule.
- Silence reigned.
- Silence reigned, broken only by the hideous screeching of vultures and the sound of a lawn-mower being used in the hospital grounds.1936, F.J. Thwaites, The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards Publishing, published 1940, page 58
Proper noun capitalized: Reign
Reign
- A male given name.
reign meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
reign in Hindi
- the exercise of sovereign power
- शासन śāsan
- the period during which a monarch rules
- राज्यकाल rājyakāl
- exercise sovereign power
- शासन करना śāsan karnā, राज्य करना rājya karnā
reign in Tamil
- ஆட்சி, ஆட்சிக்காலம், தனியாணை
reign in Marathi
- reign, rule
- राज rāj
reign in Urdu
- exercise sovereign power
- راج کَرْنا rāj karnā
More languagesFewer languages
- reign in Bengali
- শাসন śaśon
- reign in Telugu
- శకము śakamu
- reign in Malayalam
- വാഴുക vāḻuka, ഭരിക്കുക bharikkuka, വാഴ്ച vāḻca
- reign in Kannada
- ರಾಜ್ಯಭಾರ, ಆಡಳಿತ, ಶಾಸನ, ಆಳ್ವಿಕೆ
- reign in Gujarati
- રાજ rāj
- reign in Odia
- ରାଜ୍ୟ rājya
- reign in Sanskrit
- राष्टि rāṣṭi
- reign in Arabic
- حُكْم ḥukm, حُكُومَة ḥukūma, حَكَمَ ḥakama
- reign in Malay
- pemerintahan
- reign in Indonesian
- pemerintahan
- reign in Thai
- รัชกาล rát-chá-gaan, รัชสมัย rát-chá-sà-mǎi, ครอง krɔɔng, ครองราชย์ krɔɔng-râat
- reign in Vietnamese
- sự trị vì, triều đại, trị vì, cai trị
- reign in Myanmar
- အစိုးရ a.cui:ra., နန်းစံ nan:cam, နန်းထိုင် nan:htuing
Examples of reign in a sentence
- A dictatorship bans things, that do not conform to its ideology, to secure its reign.
- Queen Elizabeth II reigned as queen regnant, unlike her mother Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
- Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah.
Forms of reign
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | reigns |
| alternative form (obsolete) | raygne |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | reigns |
| present participle | reigning |
| past participle | reigned |
| past | reigned |
Origin of reign
Inherited from Middle English regnen, from Old French reignier, from the Latin verb rēgnō, and the noun rēgnum. Doublet of regnum. Displaced native Old English rīċe (“a reign”) and ricsian (“to reign”).
Words formed from reign
Phrases with reign
Words that rhyme with reign
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- drain
- pane
- gain
- main
- sustain
- vein
- entertain
- skein
- Wayne
- abstain
- bane
- campaign
- champagne
- crane
- entrain
- fain
- insane
- maine
- pain
- plane
- stain
- wane
- Aquitaine
- ascertain
- chicane
- contain
- detain
- explain
- maintain
- mundane
- obtain
- refrain
- remain
- vane
- amain
- arcane
- Blaine
- complain
- deign
- detrain
- distrain
- kane
- ordain
- pertain
- profane
- public domain
- swain
- terrain
Questions about reign
- What does reign mean?
- Reign means the exercise of sovereign power.
- What is reign in Hindi?
- Reign in Hindi is शासन (śāsan), राज्यकाल (rājyakāl), शासन करना (śāsan karnā). See Reign meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is reign?
- Reign can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce reign?
- Reign is pronounced /ɹeɪ̯n/.
- What is the plural of reign?
- The plural of reign is reigns.
Words near reign in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: reign (page history and authors); Reign (page history and authors); reign (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); राज (Marathi) (page history and authors); శకము (Telugu) (page history and authors); ഭരിക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); reign (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); રાજ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ରାଜ୍ୟ (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-reign.ogg.
Cite this entry: “reign.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/reign. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.