governless
"governless" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“governless” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Without government; ungoverned; anarchic.
Corpus desk
Index EN-governless · governless · English
governless · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "G" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | governless |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “governless” in English
Rare enough to double-check
governless is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Without government; ungoverned; anarchic.".
governless has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From govern + -less. The correct English form is governless, spelled G-O-V-E-R-N-L-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1Without government; ungoverned; anarchic.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how governless appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Oh! the heart is a free and a governless thing! / Hence strangely and madly it often will cling / To a glance of the eye, and a smile of the cheek, […]
Though the majority of your community's members have no intention of acting up, to host a governless society is to truly tempt fate.
Etymology
From govern + -less.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.