Meaning of control in English

control

verb [ T ]

/kənˈtrəʊl/ us

/kənˈtroʊl/

-ll-

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to order, limit, or rule something, or someone's actions or behaviour:

If you can't control your dog, put it on a lead!

You're going to have to learn to control your temper.

The temperature is controlled by a thermostat.

The laws controlling drugs are very strict in this country.

The government is trying to control spending.

More examplesFewer examples

Police in riot gear arrived to control the protesters.
The film was about an evil genius who wanted to control the world.
Our new teacher's a bit of a joke - he can't even control the class.
Firefighters took two hours to control the blaze.
The finance committee controls the school's budget.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Controlling and being in charge

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Idiom

control the boards

Phrasal verb

control for something

control

noun

/kənˈtrəʊl/ us

/kənˈtroʊl/

control noun (POWER)

B2 [ C or U ]

the act of controlling something or someone, or the power to do this:

control over She doesn't have any control over that child - it's embarrassing.

impose controls on He wants the government to impose strict controls on dog ownership.

take control of The dictator took control of the country in 1933.

lose control of He felt he was losing control of events.

in control of You need to stay in control of your emotions.

go out of control The car skidded and went out of control, crashing into an oncoming truck.

out of/beyond/outside someone’s control There was nothing we could do about it - the situation was out of/beyond/outside our control.

crowd control She criticized the police's methods of crowd control.

Synonyms

check  (LIMIT)
constraint
curb  (CONTROL)
curtailment
limit 
limitation
restraint
restriction

under control

being dealt with or limited successfully:

It seems that the disease is now under control.

More examplesFewer examples

The army took control of the city after the president's fall from power.
We keep a tight control on the organization's finances.
The terrorists assumed control of the plane and forced it to land in the desert.
The car went out of control and plunged over the cliff.
Troops yesterday seized control of the broadcasting station.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Power to control

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control noun (SWITCH)

B2 [ C ]

a switch or other device used to operate a machine such as a vehicle:

control panel The main instruments are in the centre of the control panel.

at the controls of Captain Firth sat at the controls of the aircraft.

[ C usually singular ]

(also control key); (written abbreviation Ctrl)

a key on a computer keyboard that you press at the same time as other keys to make the keyboard operate in a particular way:

Press and hold down the control key while you press 9.

I pressed Control Alt Delete but nothing happened.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Electrical switches & connections

clicker
coaxial
corded
dimmer
dimmer switch
junction box
national grid
outlet
override
patch
patch someone through
pause
plug
plug (something) in/plug (something) into something
plug-in
powerbank
spark plug
switchboard
terminal
wire

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Computer hardware

control noun (IN AN EXPERIMENT)

[ C ] science specialized

in an experiment, an object or system that is not changed so that you can compare it with similar objects or systems that are intentionally changed

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Keeping and staying the same

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(Definition of control from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

control | American Dictionary

control

noun [ C/U ]

/kənˈtroʊl/

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the ability or power to decide or strongly influence the particular way in which something will happen or someone will behave, or the condition of having such ability or power:

[ U ] The first few months he was running the company, Randy didn’t really feel in control.

[ U ] The man lost control of his car and crashed into a tree.

[ U ] The fire was out of control for nearly two hours before firefighters were able to get it under control.

A control is a rule or law that sets a limit on something:

[ C ] She argued for tightening controls on air pollution.

control

verb [ T ]

/kənˈtroʊl/

-ll-

to decide or strongly influence the particular way in which something will happen or someone will behave:

It’s hard to control your temper when you’re two years old.

The temperature is controlled by a thermostat.

(Definition of control from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

control | Business English

control

verb [ T ]

/kənˈtrəʊl/ us

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to be in charge of something or someone and have the power to make decisions relating to them:

The Chicago-based holding company controls a global network of advertising and public relations agencies.

Within five years the tech firm controlled 60% of the European market.

FINANCE, STOCK MARKET

to own the most shares in a company and be the main owner:

Avis' employees control the company through an employee stock option program.

FINANCE, STOCK MARKET

to own a particular number of the shares in a company, and be one of its owners:

She controls 7.5% of the company.

control a stake in sth They currently control a 20% stake in the textile firm.

to limit the amount by which something is allowed to change, develop, or increase:

If the program is adopted, the supply and price of sugar will be controlled through subsidies and import quotas.

to deal with a problem or situation successfully and stop it from becoming worse:

control inflation/spending/debts Corporate spending was cut by 15% in an effort to control spiralling debts.

to make a machine, system, process, etc. operate in the way you want it to:

All of the building's lighting and heating systems are controlled automatically.

control

noun

/kənˈtrəʊl/ us

[ U ]

the power to give orders, make decisions, and take responsibility for something:

take/keep/gain control of sth Banks threatened to take control of the business.

Both parties are vying for control of the Senate.

[ U ]

the ability to make someone or something do what you want:

control over sb/sth Critics claim he was an ineffective manager, with virtually no control over his staff.

seize/take control of sth Malware can seize control of a computer and use it for financial scams.

[ U ] FINANCE, STOCK MARKET

a large number of shares owned by one person or group, which gives them power to control its management:

The family plans to sell control of its publishing empire for $2.5 billion.

[ C or U ]

a limit on something, or the act of limiting something in order to stop it from becoming worse:

control on sth If the independent operators corner the market there will be very little control on prices.

strict/tight/tough controls Managers need to keep a tight control on costs.

impose/introduce/tighten controls The government imposed controls that required vendors to sell some items below cost price.

relax/remove/loosen control Controls were relaxed so that US manufacturers could participate more aggressively in the international market.

[ C, usually plural ]

a switch or a piece of equipment with switches on it, used for operating a machine or vehicle:

The plant was updated with new control panels for its industrial machinery.

Investigators are still trying to determine who was at the controls when the company jet crashed.

[ C ] MARKETING

→ control group

[ U ] IT

→ control key

in control

controlling something or having the power to control something:

When negotiating a deal, it’s important that you remain calm and in control.

be in control of sth She moved out of Sales and is now in control of the Marketing department.

out of control

if something is out of control, it cannot be dealt with successfully:

be/get/spiral out of control One of their biggest priorities is to prevent costs from getting out of control.

under control

if a situation is under control, it is being dealt with successfully and is unlikely to create any problems:

bring/get/keep sth under control The Fed would likely raise rates gradually to keep inflation under control.

See also

budgetary control
change control
command and control
cost control
credit control
exchange controls
import controls
inventory control
management control
market control
materials control
production control
quality control
stock control

(Definition of control from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of control

control

In the realm of abstract planning, the person has complete control.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

If control was complete, it became a routine.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This makes precise control of parallel link robot difficult.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In order to adjust the temperature, the fire control system is also given in this paper.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In this case the control system has to generate the plan of actions, and later carry it out.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These control sections showed no specific signals (data not shown).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Templates provide stricter control over the surface form of the resulting clauses than do clause plans.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In this sense, then, control relies on planning to provide an adequate efference copy.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This evidence suggests that planning and control each serve a specialized purpose utilizing distinct visual representations.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A second paradigm focuses on the neural structures involved in either planning or control, respectively.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Finally, planning will time the movement such that a sufficient period of time is available for the control system to operate.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

For example, planning breathing between phrases systematically and marking this on the music generally increased their sense of control.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Particularly troubling to us is that no means is offered for determining at what time(s) a given parameter reflects either planning or control.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Very few of these studies actually address the distinction between planning and control.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It appears then that the planning - control model may require modification in order to accommodate these recent findings.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of control

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with control

control

These are words often used in combination with control.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

adaptive control

Considering the time-consuming procedure used in adaptive control,13 this paper presents an efficient way for multi-input system's hysteresis decision to avoid any singularity.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

adequate control

One limitation is the lack of adequate control for psychiatric disorders.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

administrative control

These gestures towards administrative control evoked immediate resistance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with control

What is the pronunciation of control?

B1,B2,B2,B2