Sovereign meaning: supreme power and who holds it

Sovereign meaning, sense by sense

1. Adjective, supreme in power. "Parliament is sovereign in making laws."
2. Adjective, independent and self-governing. "a sovereign nation", "a sovereign state".
3. Noun, a monarch. "The sovereign opened the new session of parliament."
4. Noun, a gold coin. In Britain, a sovereign is a gold coin with a face value of one pound, now mostly collected or bought as gold.
5. Adjective, very effective (old use). "a sovereign remedy for colds" meant an excellent cure. You see this mainly in older writing.

Sovereignty definition in law and politics

A working definition of sovereignty in international law, if you need to define sovereignty for an exam: a state's supreme authority over its territory and people, together with its independence from control by other states. Two sides are often distinguished:

• Internal sovereignty: the government's authority to make and enforce laws inside its borders.
• External sovereignty: recognition by other states that the country is independent and equal in status.

The modern idea of equal, independent states is often linked by historians to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, which ended long wars in Europe, though scholars debate how much that treaty actually changed.

Related phrases you will see in the news:

• Popular sovereignty: the idea that ultimate power belongs to the people, a basis for democracy.
• Parliamentary sovereignty: in the UK, the principle that parliament is the highest law-making body.
• Tribal or Indigenous sovereignty: the right of Indigenous nations to govern their own affairs, important in US and Canadian law.
• Food, energy and data sovereignty: newer uses meaning control over a key resource.

Sovereign meaning in scripture and worship

Many English Bible translations use "Sovereign Lord" for a Hebrew title of God, and Christian teaching speaks of the sovereignty of God: God's complete authority and control over creation. Different Christian traditions understand this differently, especially how it relates to human free will.

Judaism and Islam also stress God's supreme rule; in Islamic thought, God's absolute sovereignty is a central belief. In all these uses, the word says that no power stands above God. For more terms from belief and worship, see faith and belief, including divine and deity.

Sovereign in money and finance

• Sovereign debt: money a national government owes, usually through bonds.
• Sovereign bond: a bond issued by a national government.
• Sovereign default: when a government fails to repay its debt on time.
• Sovereign wealth fund: a state-owned investment fund, often built from oil or trade surpluses.
• Sovereign gold bond: in India, a government security priced in grams of gold.

Examples in sentences

• The two countries signed a treaty recognising each other's sovereignty over the islands.
• The island became a sovereign state after independence.
• Investors watched sovereign bond yields closely during the crisis.
• The choir sang a hymn about God's sovereign care.
• Grandpa keeps an old gold sovereign in a velvet box.

Spelling and where the g came from

To define sovereign by its roots, start with Old French soverain, which goes back to a Latin form built on super, meaning above. The silent g is not from Latin. It crept into the English spelling, probably by association with the word reign. That is why the word is pronounced SOV-ruhn, with no g sound.

Watch the ending too: sovereignty, not sovereignity. Related ideas include autonomy (self-rule, often within a larger state) and federalism, which shares power between national and regional governments.