Word.ws English Dictionary

sovereign

Syllables: sov·e·reignUK/ˈsɒv.ɹɪn//ˈsɑv(ə)ɹɪn/

sovereign adjective: exercising power of rule. Also the ellipsis of sovereign citizen.

sovereign: exercising power of rule
Image: National Museum of American History, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

sovereign (comparative more sovereign, superlative most sovereign)

  1. Exercising power of rule.
    • sovereign nation
    • Native American nations have often been described as sovereign nations, although as regards present-day diplomacy they are, more precisely speaking, autonomous.
    1. Having supreme, ultimate power; (often specifically, of a polity) having fully independent power in international relations.
      • Near-synonym: supreme
      • sovereign country
  2. Exceptional in quality.
    • Her voice was her sovereign talent.
  3. (archaic) Extremely potent or effective (of a medicine, remedy etc.).
    • The ſoueraigne weede betwixt two marbles plaine
      She pownded ſmall, and did in peeces bruze,
      And then atweene her lilly handes twaine,
      Into his wound the iuyce thereof did ſcruze […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    • […] God save the mark!—
      And telling me the sovereign’st thing on earth
      Was parmaceti for an inward bruise;c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  4. Princely; royal.
    • You pity not the state, nor the remembrance of his most sovereign name.c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  5. Predominant; greatest; utmost; paramount.
    • We acknowledge him [God] our sovereign good.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)

Noun (1)

sovereign (plural sovereigns)

  1. A monarch: a supreme ruler of a country in a monarchical system.
    • The petty ſtreames that paie a dailie det
      To their ſalt ſoveraigne with their freſh fals haſt,
      Adde to his flowe, but alter not his taſt.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC
    • Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,
      Said then the lost Archangel, this the seat
      That we must change for Heaven?, this mournful gloom
      For that celestial light? Be it so, since hee
      Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid
      What shall be right : fardest from him is best
      Whom reason hath equald...1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
    Synonyms:
    monarch
  2. One who is not a subject to a ruler or nation.
  3. A gold coin of the United Kingdom, with a nominal value of one pound sterling but in practice used as a bullion coin.
  4. A former Australian gold coin, minted from 1855–1931, of one pound value.
  5. A very large champagne bottle with the capacity of about 25 liters, equivalent to 33+¹⁄₃ standard bottles.
  6. Any butterfly of the tribe Nymphalini, or genus Basilarchia, eg., ursula, viceroy.
  7. (UK, slang) A large, garish ring; a sovereign ring.
    • No, someone who wears loads of sovereigns as well loads of gold and has uh a curly perm and peroxide blonde hair, orange, orange sunbed skin and a fringe like this blow-dried to death, that’s a ‘scally’.2004, December 11, "Birkenhead, Merseyside" BBC Voices recording (0:06:52)
    • No visible tattoos, sovereigns, mismatched jewellery, scrunchies, large clips or hoop earrings.2011 July 1, Caroline Davies, “Harrods 'ladies' code' drives out sales assistant”, in The Guardian

Verb

sovereign (third-person singular simple present sovereigns, present participle sovereigning, simple past and past participle sovereigned)

  1. (transitive) To rule over as a sovereign.

Noun (2) capitalized: Sovereign

Sovereign

  1. The title of a monarch.
    • To the security of the Protestant interests—to the security of the Protestant Church—it is not only our duty, as Members of the British Parliament, to pay particular attention, but, it is also the particular duty of the Sovereign himself.1832 April 11, “Parliamentary Reform—Bill for England—Second reading—Third Day—Debate again Adjourned—Discussion as to fixing the Day for the Committee”, in parliamentary debates, page 285
  2. God, the supreme being who has power over all creation.
    • Alas! and did my Saviour bleed? / And did my Sovereign dye?1707, Isaac Watts, “Godly Sorrow ariſing from the Sufferings of Chriſt”, in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, London: J. Humfreys, page 86
    • My Sov'reign, to thy throne, / With humble hope I preſs, / O bow thine ear to hear the groan / Of indigent diſtreſs.1795, Elizabeth Scott, “Prayer in Sickneſs”, in Jeremy Belknap, editor, Sacred poetry consisting of psalms and hymns, adapted to Christian devotion, in public and private. Selected from the beſt...

Proper noun capitalized: Sovereign

Sovereign (plural Sovereigns)

  1. A surname from German.

Also used as

sovereign is also the ellipsis of sovereign citizen.

sovereign meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu

sovereign in Hindi

exercising power of rule
स्वायत्त svāyatt, सार्वभौम sārvabhaum
monarch
अधिराज adhirāj, सम्राट samrāṭ

sovereign in Tamil

coin
சவரன் cavaraṉ, பவுன் pavuṉ

sovereign in Bengali

সার্বভৌম

sovereign in Telugu

exercising power of rule
సార్వభౌమ sārvabhauma, సర్వసత్తాక sarvasattāka
More languagesFewer languages
sovereign in Malayalam
സർവ്വാധികാരി saṟvvādhikāri
sovereign in Gujarati
સાર્વભૌમ
sovereign in Odia
ସାର୍ବଭୌମ
sovereign in Nepali
सार्वभौम sārbabhaum
sovereign in Pashto
مستقل mostaqel
sovereign in Tagalog
higpuno
sovereign in Arabic
مُسْتَقِلّ mustaqill, عَاهِل ʕāhil, مَلِك malik
sovereign in Indonesian
berdaulat, penguasa
sovereign in Persian
مستقل mostaqell
sovereign in Vietnamese
chủ quyền

Examples of sovereign in a sentence

  • Gentlemen, may I introduce Her Royal Highness, the Sovereign and Most Imperial Majesty, Empress Elizabeth of Vicron.
  • Such a sovereign influence has this passion upon the regulation of the lives and actions of men.1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
  • John’s Eve, believing that this is a sovereign preservative against diseases of the skin.1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 3, page 297:
  • No question is to be made but that the bed of the Missisippi^([sic]) belongs to the sovereign, that is, to the nation.1785, Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia:

All 40 example sentences with sovereign

Synonyms of sovereign

Forms of sovereign

Adjective
comparativemore sovereign
superlativemost sovereign
alternative pronunciation-spellingsovring
alternative pronunciation-spellingsovrin
alternative form (archaic)soveraign
alternative form (archaic)soveraigne
alternative form (archaic)sovran
Noun
pluralsovereigns
Verb
third-person singular presentsovereigns
present participlesovereigning
past participlesovereigned
pastsovereigned
Proper noun
pluralSovereigns

Plural of sovereign: sovereigns

Origin of sovereign

From Middle English sovereyn, from Old French soverain (whence also modern French souverain), from Vulgar Latin *superānus (compare Italian sovrano, Spanish soberano) from Latin super (“above”). Spelling influenced by folk-etymology association with reign. Doublet of soprano, from the same Latin root via Italian. Doublet of souverain. See also suzerain, foreign.

Americanized form of an unidentified German surname.

Words formed from sovereign

Phrases with sovereign

Words that rhyme with sovereign

Questions about sovereign

What does sovereign mean?
Sovereign means exercising power of rule.
What is sovereign in Hindi?
Sovereign in Hindi is स्वायत्त (svāyatt), सार्वभौम (sārvabhaum), अधिराज (adhirāj). See Sovereign meaning in Hindi.
How do you use sovereign in a sentence?
Gentlemen, may I introduce Her Royal Highness, the Sovereign and Most Imperial Majesty, Empress Elizabeth of Vicron.
What part of speech is sovereign?
Sovereign can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce sovereign?
Sovereign is pronounced /ˈsɒv.ɹɪn/ (UK).

Words near sovereign in the dictionary

  1. sovenaunces
  2. soveraign
  3. soveraigne
  4. soveraigns
  5. soveraigntie
  6. sovereign
  7. sovereign bond
  8. sovereign bonds
  9. sovereign citizen
  10. sovereign citizens
  11. sovereign debt

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sovereign (page history and authors); Sovereign (page history and authors); sovereign (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sovereign (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sovereign (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-sovereign.ogg.

Cite this entry: “sovereign.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sovereign. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.