sovereignty
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: PIE word
 *upér
From Late Middle English sovereynte, souvereynte [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman sovereyneté, soverentee, and Old French soveraineté, souveraineté (modern French souveraineté), from soverain + -té (suffix forming nouns, often denoting a property or quality). Soverain is derived from Vulgar Latin *superānus (“chief; sovereign”), from Latin super (“above; on top of”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *upér (“above, over”)) + -ānus (“suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, usually denoting a relationship of origin, position, or possession”)). The English word is analysable as sovereign + -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives).
Base: sovereign
Affixes: -ty
Inflected forms:
form: sovereignties
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: soveraigntie
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: sovranty
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: The quality or state of being sovereign.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: […] Zephyrus the VVeſterne vvind being in loue vvith her [Chloris], and coueting her to vvyfe, gaue her for a dovvrie, the chiefedome and ſoueraigntye of al flovvers and greene herbes, grovving on earth.
[…] Androgeus, falſe to natiue ſoyle, / And enuious of Vncles ſoueraintie, / Betrayd his countrey vnto forreine ſpoyle: […]
The King of Nauarre hath alſo tvvo parliaments which ſerue for the countries which he holdeth in ſoueraigntie.
But Fortune, oh, / She is corrupted, chang'd, and vvonne from thee, / Sh'adulterates hourely vvith thine Vnckle Iohn, / And vvith her golden hand hath pluckt on France / To tread dovvne faire reſpect of Soueraigntie, / And made his Maieſtie the bavvd to theirs.
[…] Joves ovvn Tree, / That holds the VVoods in avvful Sov'raignty, / Requires a depth of Lodging in the Ground; […]
Yet this Diminutive Rank of Soveraignty remain’d many Ages in the VVorld; and vve find, not only in Abraham’s Time, vvhen the five Cities of the Lake or Valley, vvhere Sodom ſtood, had five Kings over them; […] but even at the coming of the Iſraelites into Canaan, almoſt every City had its King; […]
The sage, in truth, by […] / Deep contemplation, and unwearied study, / In years outstretch'd beyond the date of man, / May have attained to sovereignty and science / Over those strong and secret things and thoughts / Which others fear and know not.
As long as our people quote English standards, they will miss the sovereignty of power; […]
"The main thing I was declaring was that cyberspace is naturally immune to sovereignty and always would be," Barlow, now 68, said in an interview over the weekend with WIRED. "I believed that was true then, and I believe it's true now."
gloss: The quality or state of being sovereign.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
uncountable
examples: Sovereignty, as a matter of right, appertains to the Nation only, and not to any individual; and a Nation has at all times an inherent indefeaſible right to aboliſh any form of Government it finds inconvenient, and eſtabliſh ſuch as accords vvith its intereſt, diſpoſition, and happineſs.
There is no difficulty is showing that the ideally best form of government is that in which the sovereignty, or supreme controlling power in the last resort, is vested in the entire aggregate of the community; every citizen not only having a voice in the exercise of that ultimate sovereignty, but being, at least occasionally, called on to take an actual part in the government, by the personal discharge of some public function, local or general.
On the other hand, the nationalitarian phenomenon is one in which 'the struggle against the imperialist powers of occupation has as its object, beyond the clearing of the national territory, the independence and sovereignty of the national State, uprooting in depth the positions of the ex-colonial power – the reconquest of the power of decision in all domains of national life, the prelude to that reconquest of identity which is at the heart of the renaissance undertaken on the basis of fundamental national demands, and ceaselessly contested, by every means available, on every level, and notably on the internal level'.
In today's interconnected economies and societies, a formal independence is the opposite of gaining real sovereignty and control. This is because the excluded party would be absent from the table when decisions are made, unable to participate as choices are taken that, sooner or later, will affect them.
gloss: The quality or state of being sovereign.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
uncountable
gloss: The quality or state of being sovereign.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: [His head,] Wherein by curious ſoueraigntie of Art, / Are fixt his piercing inſtruments of ſight: / Whose fiery circles beare encompaſſed / A heauen of heauenly bodies in their Spheares: […]
Of all complexions the culd ſoueraigntie, / Do meete as at a faire in her faire cheeke, / VVhere ſeuerall vvorthies make one dignitie, / VVhere nothing vvantes, that vvant itſelfe doth ſeeke.
You knovv my Father left me ſome preſcriptions / Of rare and prou'd effects, ſuch as his reading / And manifeſt experience, had collected / For generall ſoueraigntie: and that he vvil'd me / In heedfull'ſt reſeruation to beſtovv them, / As notes, vvhose faculties incluſiue vvere, / More then they vvere in note: […]
[Ordinaries in heraldry] are alſo called, moſt vvorthy partitions, in reſpect that albeit the Field be charged in diuers parts thereof, vvhether vvith things of one or of diuers kindes, yet is euery of them as effectuall as if it vvere onely one, by the Soueraigntie of theſe partitions being interpoſed betvveene them.
gloss: A territory under the rule of a sovereign; an independent or self-governing nation or other polity.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Theſe Expences […] vvould not for the preſent, Rebus ſic ſtantibus [with things thus standing], become this King, vvhoſe fame and honour (as all other Sovereignties, ſo his in particular) ſtood more upon Reputation than profit; […]
VVhence it is clear as Noon-day that all the Horns here mentioned ſignifying particular Sovereignties, there being in the mean time but one Beaſt mentioned, vvhich neceſſarily implies but one Empire, State, or Kingdom, that all theſe particular Sovereignties muſt be the Sovereignties of one and the ſame State or Empire vvhich the Goat ſignified, vvhich is the Greek Empire.
[T]his Diſunion at length occaſioned the total Ruin of them all; the Chriſtians being thereby enabled alſo to erect diverſe ſmall Sovereignties, vvith Regal Titles.
Over Johnson's veto, Congress enacted one of the most important laws in American history, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, still on the books today. It affirmed the citizenship of everyone born in the United States, regardless of race (except Indians, still considered members of tribal sovereignties).
Synonyms: sovereigndom
sovereignhood
sovereignness
sovereignship
Related words: nonsovereign
sovereign
sovereigndom
sovereignhood
sovereignism
sovereignist
sovereignness
sovereignship
unsovereign
Derived words: antisovereignty
biosovereignty
cosovereignty
data sovereignty
food sovereignty
nonsovereignty
omnisovereignty
semisovereignty
sovereigntism
sovereigntist
sovereigntyship
Translations: