sovereignty

English

Alternative forms

• soveraigntie (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English sovereynte, from Anglo-Norman sovereyneté, from Old French souveraineté, from soverain.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒv.ɹən.ti/, /ˈsɒv.ɹɪn.ti/

Noun

sovereignty (countable and uncountable, plural sovereignties)

1. (of a polity) The state of making laws and controlling resources without the coercion of other nations.
   • 2019, Manuel Valls, What have Britain and Catalonia got in common? Delusions of independence in the Guardian

     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.

2. (of a ruler) Supreme authority over all things.
3. (of a person) The liberty to decide one's thoughts and actions.

Synonyms

• (political independence): nationhood, nationality, independence, autarchy

Translations

of a nation: the state of making laws and controlling resources without the coercion of other nations.

• Afrikaans: soewereiniteit
• Albanian: sovranitet (sq) m
• Arabic: سِيَادَة‎ f (siyāda)
• Armenian: ինքնիշխանություն (hy) (inkʿnišxanutʿyun)
• Asturian: soberanía f
• Azerbaijani: suverenlik, müstəqillik (az)
• Belarusian: суверэнітэ́т m (suvjerenitét)
• Bulgarian: суверените́т m (suverenitét)
• Burmese: အချုပ်အခြာအာဏာ (my) (a.hkyup-a.hkraana)
• Catalan: sobirania (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 主權, 主权 (zyu² kyun⁴)

  Mandarin: 主權 (zh), 主权 (zh) (zhǔquán)

• Czech: svrchovanost f, suverenita f
• Danish: suverænitet c
• Dutch: soevereiniteit (nl) f
• Estonian: suveräänsus
• Finnish: suvereenisuus (fi), suvereniteetti (fi)
• French: souveraineté (fr) f
• Galician: soberanía (gl) f
• Georgian: სუვერენიტეტი (suvereniṭeṭi)
• German: Souveränität (de) f, Hoheit (de) f, Eigenständigkeit (de) f, Landeshoheit f, Eigenstaatlichkeit (de) f, Hoheitsgewalt (de) f, Oberhoheit (de) f
• Greek: κυριαρχία (el) f (kyriarchía)
• Hebrew: ריבונות \ רִבּוֹנוּת‎ (ribonút), סוּבֶרֶנִיּוּת‎ (suvereniyút)
• Hindi: संप्रभुता (samprabhutā), प्रभुता (hi) (prabhutā)
• Icelandic: fullveldi (is) n
• Indonesian: kedaulatan (id)
• Irish: ardcheannas m, ceannas m, flaithiúnas m
• Italian: sovranità (it) f
• Japanese: 主権 (ja) (しゅけん, shuken)
• Kazakh: егемендік (egemendik)
• Khmer: អធិបតេយ្យ (km) (ʼaʼthɨppaʼtay)
• Korean: 주권 (ko) (jugwon) (主權 (ko))

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: فەرمان ڕەوایی‎ (ku) (ferman rewayî)

• Kyrgyz: суверенитет (ky) (suverenitet), эгемендүүлүк (egemendüülük)
• Lao: ອະທິປະໄຕ (ʼa thi pa tai)
• Latin: summus imperii m, principatus m
• Latvian: suverenitāte f
• Lithuanian: suverenitetas (lt) m
• Macedonian: сувереност f (suverenost), суверените́т m (suverenitét)
• Malay: kedaulatan
• Mongolian: суверенитет (suverenitet)
• Navajo: akʼídádéestʼį́į́ʼ
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: suverenitet (no) m

  Nynorsk: suverenitet m

• Occitan: sobeiranetat f
• Pashto: حاکميت‎ (ps) m (hākemyát, hākәmyát)
• Persian: حاکمیت‎ (fa) (hâkemiyyat)
• Polish: suwerenność (pl) f
• Portuguese: soberania (pt) f
• Romanian: suveranitate (ro) f
• Russian: суверените́т (ru) m (suverenitét)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: суверенитет m

  Roman: suverenitet (sh) m

• Slovak: suverenita f
• Slovene: suverenost f
• Spanish: soberanía (es) f
• Swedish: självständighet (sv) c, oavhängighet (sv) c, suveränitet (sv) c
• Tagalog: kahigpunuan, soberanya
• Tajik: ҳокимият (hokimiyat)
• Thai: อธิปไตย (th) (à-tí-bpà-dtai)
• Turkish: egemenlik (tr), hükümranlık (tr), hâkimiyet (tr)
• Turkmen: suwerenitet
• Ukrainian: сувереніте́т (uk) m (suverenitét)
• Uyghur: ئىگىلىك ھوقۇقى‎ (igilik hoquqi)
• Uzbek: suverenitet (uz), mustaqillik (uz)
• Vietnamese: chủ quyền (vi) (主權)

of ruler or God: supreme authority over all things

• Catalan: sobirania (ca) f
• Finnish: yksinvaltius
• Galician: soberanía (gl) f
• German: Souveränität (de) f, Oberherrschaft (de) f, höchste Gewalt f
• Irish: ardcheannas m, flaitheas m (religion), flaithiúnas m (politics)

• Italian: onnipotenza (it) f, pieno controllo
• Manx: ard-reeriaght f
• Maori: rangatiratanga
• Portuguese: autoridade (pt) f, soberania (pt) f
• Sanskrit: राज्य (sa) n (rājya)
• Turkish: mutlak güç

of self: the liberty to decide one's thoughts and actions

• Catalan: sobirania (ca) f
• Finnish: yksilönvapaus (fi), suvereniteetti (fi)
• German: Souveränität (de) f, Eigenständigkeit (de) f, Selbstbestimmung (de) f

• Irish: ceannas m
• Italian: arbitrio (it) m
• Portuguese: arbítrio (pt) m