ungovernable
"ungovernable" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ungovernable” is uncommon English (frequency #70,361 among 1,433 “U” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,361
- frequency rank, English
- 1,433
- “U” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Not governable; unable to be governed.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ungovernable · ungovernable · English
ungovernable · rank #70,361 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #70,361
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,433
- PHOTO-FINISH unfamiliarity
Nearest frequency peer: unfamiliarity (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “ungovernable”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- unenviable
unenviable
29,642 corpus weight
- unfamiliari…
unfamiliarity
29,641 corpus weight
- ungovernable
ungovernable
29,640 corpus weight
- unguided
unguided
29,639 corpus weight
- unimpeachab…
unimpeachable
29,638 corpus weight
- unroll
unroll
29,637 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “ungovernable” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ungovernable |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #70,361 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ungovernable” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ungovernable is uncommon English at frequency #70,361 among 1,433 “U” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for ungovernable, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From un- + governable. The correct English form is ungovernable, spelled U-N-G-O-V-E-R-N-A-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1Not governable; unable to be governed.
- 2Unable to be managed or controlled.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ungovernable appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The concern about ungovernability in the United States often takes the form of complaints about “single-issue” politics and the limited influence and discipline of American political parties. Thus our next question is, Why are some modern societies to some degree ungovernable?
While there is no mechanism to force a General Election, the internal wrangling within the Tory party may mean that ultimately the new PM will simply be so exhausted by the chaos that the country becomes ungovernable.
Etymology
From un- + governable.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ungovernable", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).