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Politics & Government vocabulary · Government and the Executive

Government

Meaning in politics & government, with examples

/ˈɡʌvənmənt/nounCore term

In politics & government, government means: The group of people who run a country at a given time, led by a prime minister or president; more broadly, the system and institutions through which a state is governed.

In Turkish: hükümet, yönetim, devlet yönetimi

How it is used

Governments are formed, elected, brought down and replaced. In British English it often means the prime minister and ministers, and it can take a plural verb: the government are... In American English the president's team is usually called the administration, and government is used more broadly.

Example sentences

  1. The government has announced a new plan to cut waiting times in hospitals.

  2. After weeks of talks, the two parties agreed to form a government together.

Common collocations

  • form a government
  • central government
  • government spending
  • bring down the government
  • government minister
  • cabinetThe group of senior ministers, led by the prime minister or president, who meet regularly to decide government policy.
  • prime ministerThe leader of the government in many countries, usually the head of the largest party or coalition in parliament, who chairs the cabinet.
  • executiveThe branch of government that puts laws into effect and runs the country day to day, made up of the head of government, ministers and their departments.
  • oppositionThe parties in parliament that are not part of the government, especially the largest of them, whose role is to question the government and offer an alternative.
  • local governmentThe system of councils and officials that run public services and make decisions for a particular city, town or region rather than for the whole country.

More terms: Government and the Executive

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