n.
- the power to influence people's behaviour or the course of events.
▸the restriction of an activity, tendency, or phenomenon.
- a device by which a machine is regulated:
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the volume control.
- a person or thing used as a standard of comparison for checking the results of a survey or experiment.
- a member of an intelligence organization who personally directs the activities of a spy.
- Bridge a high card that will prevent the opponents from establishing a particular suit.
v.
(controls, controlling, controlled)
- have control or command of.
▸regulate.
-
[as adj. controlled]
(of a drug) restricted by law in respect of use and possession.
-
(control for)
take into account (an extraneous factor that might affect the results of an experiment).
Phrase
- in control
able to direct a situation, person, or activity. - out of control
no longer able to be managed. - under control
(of a danger or emergency) being dealt with or contained successfully.
Derivative
- controllability n.
- controllable adj.
- controllably adv.
- controller n.
- controllership n.
Etymology
ME (in the sense ‘verify accounts’): from Anglo-Norman Fr. contreroller ‘keep a copy of a roll of accounts’, from med. L. contrarotulare, from contrarotulus ‘copy of a roll’, from contra- ‘against’ + rotulus ‘a roll’.
