control

verb con·trol \ kən-ˈtrōl \

|Updated on: 14 Jun 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: control in a Sentence

Definition of control

controlled; controlling

transitive verb

1 a archaic : to check, test, or verify by evidence or experiments

b : to incorporate suitable controls in

a controlled experiment

2 a : to exercise restraining or directing influence over : regulate

control one's anger

b : to have power over : rule

A single company controls the industry.

c : to reduce the incidence or severity of especially to innocuous levels

control an insect population

control a disease

intransitive verb

: to incorporate controls in an experiment or study —used with for

control for socioeconomic differences

—

controllability

play \kən-ˌtrō-lə-ˈbi-lə-tē\ noun

—

controllable

play \kən-ˈtrō-lə-bəl\ adjective

—

controlment

play \kən-ˈtrōl-mənt\ noun

See control defined for English-language learners

See control defined for kids

Examples of control in a Sentence

The parents could not control their child.
The police controlled the crowd.
The small boy could not control the big dog.
Her family controls the business.
One country controls the whole island.
The rebel army now controls nearly half the country.
The lights on stage are controlled by this computer.
She struggled to control the cart as it rolled before her down the steep, bumpy road.
He controlled the volume by turning the radio's knob.
A thermostat controls the room's temperature.

Recent Examples of control from the Web

One exercise involves a robotic cage that flings balls from various angles for a player to control and pass.

— The Economist, "What makes a country good at football?," 9 June 2018
Additionally, roughly 38% of in-home drinkers are choosing to drink at home in order to better control their alcohol intake.

— sarah midkiff, refinery29.com, "New Study Shows Millennials Aren’t Drinking In Bars & Everyone Has An Opinion On It," 9 June 2018
Much of it comes from across the border in Myanmar, where efforts to control the border have not been fruitful.

— swati gupta and sugam pokharel, CNN, "Bangladesh defends war on drugs as body count mounts," 8 June 2018
The driver was able to control the vehicle and avoided injury by ducking to the right quickly.

— marci shatzman, Sun-Sentinel.com, "You won't believe the things that smack into drivers' cars," 8 June 2018
Who will pay more in taxes, and how laws might change to control costs, are looming questions posed often by AARP — formerly, the American Association of Retired Persons.

— bill laitner, Detroit Free Press, "Michigan is aging faster than the rest of the U.S. – here's why," 8 June 2018
Daisy Mountain Fire and Medical tweeted that multiple agencies were working together to control the fires.

— bree burkitt, azcentral, "Brush fires cause 4-mile delay on I-17 near Black Canyon City," 8 June 2018
The only other cultural technique to control wilt diseases is to rotate your crops from one year to the next to allow the fungal populations to dwindle and give the plants a fighting chance.

— paul cappiello, The Courier-Journal, "Tomato — the 'luscious beauty' of the garden and how to fight diseases," 8 June 2018
By allowing states to control what happens with cannabis within their borders, the bill could also usher in new medicinal research into the drug.

— kimberly veklerov, San Francisco Chronicle, "Federal cannabis bill would help California marijuana businesses get banking," 8 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'control.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of control

Middle English countrollen, from Anglo-French contrerouler, from contreroule copy of an account, audit, from Medieval Latin contrarotulus, from Latin contra- + Medieval Latin rotulus roll — more at roll

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1523

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

control Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of control

conduct, manage, control, direct mean to use one's powers to lead, guide, or dominate. conduct implies taking responsibility for the acts and achievements of a group.

- conducted negotiations

manage implies direct handling and manipulating or maneuvering toward a desired result.

- manages a meat market

control implies a regulating or restraining in order to keep within bounds or on a course.

- controlling his appetite

direct implies constant guiding and regulating so as to achieve smooth operation.

- directs the store's day-to-day business

control

noun, often attributive

Definition of control

1 a : an act or instance of controlling; also : power or authority to guide or manage

He took control of the family business.

b : skill in the use of a tool, instrument, technique, or artistic medium

a singer's control of her voice

c : the regulation of economic activity especially by government directive —usually used in plural

price controls

rent controls

d : the ability of a baseball pitcher to control the location of a pitch within the strike zone

2 : restraint, reserve

exercised control of his passions

3 : one that controls: such as

a (1) : an experiment in which the subjects are treated as in a parallel experiment except for omission of the procedure or agent under test and which is used as a standard of comparison in judging experimental effects — called also control experiment

(2) : one (such as an organism, culture, or group) that is part of a control

b : a device or mechanism used to regulate or guide the operation of a machine, apparatus, or system

the controls of the aircraft

c : an organization that directs a spaceflight

mission control

d : a personality or spirit believed to actuate the utterances or performances of a spiritualist medium

4 or less commonly Control : control key

See control defined for English-language learners

Examples of control in a Sentence

The city wanted local control of education.
The tribes fought for control over the territory.
He took control of the family farm.
She hired an accountant to take control of her money.
He lost all muscle control in his left arm.
The soccer player showed good control of the ball.
a teacher with good control of her students
The farmer used an organic pest control on his crops.
To cut down on competition, the government passed price controls on prescription drugs.
The President wants stricter controls on immigration.

Recent Examples of control from the Web

On an evening where no less than 13 players were booked by referee Howard Webb in the final with an astonishing 47 fouls committed, events spiraled out of control from the English official.

— SI.com, "World Cup Countdown: 4 Days to Go - When Oranje Ditched Total Football in 2010 to Near-Perfection," 10 June 2018
As our incomes grew, so did our spending habits, and our weekly grocery bill has gotten out of control.

— anne roderique-jones, SELF, "5 Money-Saving Tips That Improved Our Finances—and Our Marriage," 10 June 2018
But at 9:30, the DJ blasted out some of the new songs from this new album, and things got out of control.

— david sharos, Aurora Beacon-News, "Noise at Kanye West album party in rural Kane County results in more than 20 complaints: sheriff's official," 9 June 2018
But what was expected to be a closely contested, low-scoring game quickly spiraled out of control for Auburn.

— orion sang, Detroit Free Press, "Casey Mize, Detroit Tigers No. 1 pick, shelled by Florida in NCAAs," 9 June 2018
Redevelopment of downtown gives Ottumwa leaders some opportunity to boost shopping, when most of the control lies with large corporations, said Holly Berg, an Ottumwa council member.

— donnelle eller, USA TODAY, "Rural malls hit hard times, leaving shoppers adrift as more stores close," 8 June 2018
Presidencies are heavily affected by circumstances out of their control -- unforeseen events that shape history and a president's role in it.

— chris cillizza, CNN, "Mitt Romney predicts Donald Trump will win in 2020 'solidly.' Is he right?," 8 June 2018
Some factors behind Villaraigosa’s defeat were out of his control.

— phil willon, latimes.com, "How Villaraigosa lost the governor's race despite tens of millions of dollars spent to boost his bid," 7 June 2018
This gives Alexa a level of control over various TVs, cable boxes, soundbars, receivers, and the like.

— jeff dunn, Ars Technica, "Amazon’s Fire TV Cube is like a Fire TV blended with an Echo Dot," 7 June 2018

Origin and Etymology of control

see ¹control

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1565

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

control Synonyms

Synonyms

arm, authority, clutch, command, death grip, dominion, grip, hold, mastery, power, reign, rein(s), sway;

Antonyms

impotence, impotency, powerlessness;

Near Antonyms

helplessness, weakness;

jurisdiction;

direction, management;

dominance, imperium, predominance, sovereignty (also sovranty), supremacy;

prerogative, privilege, right;

Synonym Discussion of control

power, authority, jurisdiction, control, command, sway, dominion mean the right to govern or rule or determine. power implies possession of ability to wield force, authority, or influence.

- the power to mold public opinion

authority implies power for a specific purpose within specified limits.

- granted the authority to manage her estate

jurisdiction applies to official power exercised within prescribed limits.

- the bureau having jurisdiction over parks

control stresses the power to direct and restrain.

- you are responsible for the students under your control

command implies the power to make arbitrary decisions and compel obedience.

- the army officer in command

sway suggests the extent of exercised power or influence.

- the empire extended its sway over the region

dominion stresses sovereign power or supreme authority.

- given dominion over all the animals

Other Occult Terms

augury, censor, invocation, lucidity, metempsychosis, mojo, numinous, preternatural, weird, wraith

CONTROL Defined for English Language Learners

control

verb

Definition of control for English Language Learners

: to direct the behavior of (a person or animal) : to cause (a person or animal) to do what you want
: to have power over (something)
: to direct the actions or function of (something) : to cause (something) to act or function in a certain way

control

noun

Definition of control for English Language Learners

: the power to make decisions about how something is managed or done
: the ability to direct the actions of someone or something
: an action, method, or law that limits the amount or growth of something

CONTROL Defined for Kids

control

verb con·trol \ kən-ˈtrōl \

Definition of control for Students

controlled; controlling

1 : to have power over

"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors…"
—Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

2 : to direct the actions or behavior of

Police can control a crowd.

3 : to keep within bounds : restrain

Learn to control your temper.

4 : to direct the function of

How do you control this machine?

History for control

In medieval England, records were kept in a variety of French. In this variety of French, a contreroule, or “counter-roll,” was a piece of parchment on which payments and receipts were written down. The verb contrerouler meant to check the original records against the “counter-roll” to be sure no mistakes were made. These two words were the source of our noun and verb control. The sense “checking for mistakes” survives in the way we use control to mean something used to check the results of a scientific experiment.

control

noun

Definition of control for Students

1 : the power or authority to manage

The city wanted local control of education.

2 : ability to keep within bounds or direct the operation of

The fire is out of control.

He lost control of the car.

3 : self-restraint

I lost control and started yelling.

4 : regulation 2

price controls

5 : a device used to start, stop, or change the operation of a machine or system

a radio control

6 : something that is not treated or exposed to testing in an experiment in order to serve as a comparison to others that have undergone treatment or exposure

Medical Dictionary

control

verb con·trol \ kən-ˈtrōl \

medical Definition of control

controlled; controlling

transitive verb

1 : to incorporate suitable controls in

a controlled experiment

2 : to reduce the incidence or severity of especially to innocuous levels

control an insect population

a vaccine for controlling outbreaks of cholera

intransitive verb

: to incorporate controls in an experiment or study —used with for

failure to control for the difference in the rate of smoking between the two groups
—Howard Bauchner et al

control

noun

medical Definition of control

1 : an act or instance of controlling something

control of acute intermittent porphyria

2 : one that is used in controlling something: as

a : an experiment in which the subjects are treated as in a parallel experiment except for omission of the procedure or agent under test and which is used as a standard of comparison in judging experimental effects — called also control experiment

b : one (as an organism, culture, or group) that is part of a control