reign definition

English

Alternative forms

• raygne (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English regnen, from Old French reignier, from the Latin verb rēgnō, and the noun rēgnum. Doublet of regnum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹeɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: rain, rein
• Rhymes: -eɪn

Noun

reign (plural reigns)

1. The exercise of sovereign power.

   England prospered under Elizabeth I's reign.

   • 2020 December 6, Xin Yan, “The Seemingly Impossible Is Possible”, in Minghui‎^[1]:

     Throughout history, no single dictator has successfully upheld their reign forever, no matter how powerful they seemed to be.

2. The period during which a monarch rules.

   The reign of Victoria was a long one.

3. The territory or sphere over which a kingdom; empire; realm; dominion, etc. is ruled.
   • 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], OCLC 15537294:

     And the Fox guileful, and most covetous; / That neither pleased was, to have the reign / Twixt them divided into even twain

Translations

Verb

reign (third-person singular simple present reigns, present participle reigning, simple past and past participle reigned)

1. (intransitive) To exercise sovereign power, to rule as a monarch.

   He reigned in an autocratic manner.

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     Both we will raigne as Conſuls of the earth,
     And mightie kings ſhall be our Senators.

2. (transitive, rare, nonstandard) To reign over (a country)
   • 2007, Anna Chilewska, Writing after the gaze: the rupture of the historical‎^[2]:

     The House of Piast reigned Poland from its foundation to 1385.

3. To be the winner of the most recent iteration of a competition.
4. To be a dominant quality of a place or situation; to prevail, predominate, rule.

   Silence reigned.

   • 1936, F.J. Thwaites, The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards Publishing, published 1940, page 58:

     Silence reigned, broken only by the hideous screeching of vultures and the sound of a lawn-mower being used in the hospital grounds.

   • 2007, Richard Bawden, “Redesigning Animal Agriculture: a Systemic Perspective”, in David L. Swain, Ed Charmley, John Steel, Shaun Coffey, editors, Redesigning Animal Agriculture: The Challenge of the 21st Century‎^[3], CABI, page 1:

     Unfortunately – and ironically – the word ‘system’ itself is used in such a wide variety of contexts within animal science, as indeed it is in virtually every domain of human activity, that confusion reigns about what a systems-oriented research programme actually looks like and what systems-oriented animal scientists actually do.

Derived terms

• reign supreme

Translations

Anagrams

• Grein, Negri, Niger, niger, nigre, re-nig, renig, ringe