SOVEREIGN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sovereign mean? 

• SOVEREIGN (noun)
  The noun SOVEREIGN has 1 sense:

1. a nation's ruler or head of state usually by hereditary right

  Familiarity information: SOVEREIGN used as a noun is very rare.

• SOVEREIGN (adjective)
  The adjective SOVEREIGN has 2 senses:

1. (of political bodies) not controlled by outside forces

2. greatest in status or authority or power

  Familiarity information: SOVEREIGN used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOVEREIGN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A nation's ruler or head of state usually by hereditary right

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

crowned head; monarch; sovereign

Hypernyms ("sovereign" is a kind of...):

chief of state; head of state (the chief public representative of a country who may also be the head of government)

ruler; swayer (a person who rules or commands)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sovereign"):

Capetian (a member of the Capetian dynasty)

Carlovingian; Carolingian (a member of the Carolingian dynasty)

czar; tsar; tzar (a male monarch or emperor (especially of Russia prior to 1917))

emperor (the male ruler of an empire)

king; male monarch; Rex (a male sovereign; ruler of a kingdom)

Merovingian (a member of the Merovingian dynasty)

Shah; Shah of Iran (title for the former hereditary monarch of Iran)

• SOVEREIGN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of political bodies) not controlled by outside forces

Synonyms:

autonomous; independent; self-governing; sovereign

Context example:

a sovereign state

Similar:

free (not limited or hampered; not under compulsion or restraint)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Greatest in status or authority or power

Synonyms:

sovereign; supreme

Context example:

a supreme tribunal

Similar:

dominant (exercising influence or control)

 Context examples 

I would offer you a sovereign for the use of a bicycle.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He replied:—"Well, guv'nor, you've treated me wery 'an'some"—I had given him half a sovereign—"an' I'll tell yer all I know.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

‘There are five sovereigns here,’ said he, walking up to me, ‘which will, I hope, be a sufficient fee.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He brought a bag of sovereigns up with him to back me with.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A sovereign if the lid comes off in a minute! Ask no questions—work away!

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

‘The Church of St. Monica, John,’ she cried, ‘and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.’

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These documents I threw to Zambo in the evening, and also my purse, which contained three English sovereigns.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"At your peril you advertise! I wish I had only offered you a sovereign instead of ten pounds. Give me back nine pounds, Jane; I've a use for it."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

If you won't, my name is Alexander Smollett, I've flown my sovereign's colours, and I'll see you all to Davy Jones.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I began my discourse by informing his majesty, that our dominions consisted of two islands, which composed three mighty kingdoms, under one sovereign, beside our plantations in America.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)