Alternative forms

• (computer key): See Ctrl
• comptrol, comptroll (archaic)
• controll, controul, countrol (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#CONTROLCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#CONTROL controllen, from Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#CONTROL contrerole, from Medieval LatinCategory:English terms derived from Medieval Latin#CONTROL contrārotulus (“a counter-roll or register used to verify accounts”), from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#CONTROL contrā (“against, opposite”) + Medieval LatinCategory:English terms derived from Medieval Latin#CONTROL rotulus, LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#CONTROL rotula (“roll, a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”).

Partly displaced native Old English wealdan and Old English wieldan, whence their merged reflex English wield.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈtɹəʊl/, [kənˈtɹɒʊl], (doll–dole merger) /kənˈtɹɒl/Category:English 2-syllable words#CONTROLCategory:English 2-syllable words#CONTROLCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CONTROL

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#CONTROL
• (US) IPA^(key): /kənˈtɹoʊl/Category:English 2-syllable words#CONTROLCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CONTROL

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#CONTROL
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /kənˈtɹəʉl/Category:English 2-syllable words#CONTROLCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CONTROL
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /kənˈtɹɐʉl/Category:English 2-syllable words#CONTROLCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CONTROL
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /kənˈtɾol/Category:English 2-syllable words#CONTROLCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CONTROL
• (Wales, without the toe–tow merger) IPA^(key): /kənˈtɾoːl/Category:English 2-syllable words#CONTROLCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CONTROL
• Rhymes: -əʊlCategory:Rhymes:English/əʊl#CONTROLCategory:Rhymes:English/əʊl/2 syllables#CONTROL
• Hyphenation: con‧trol

Verb

control (third-person singular simple present controls, present participle controlling, simple past and past participle controlled)Category:English lemmas#CONTROLCategory:English verbs#CONTROLCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#CONTROLCategory:Pages with entries#CONTROLCategory:Pages with 5 entries#CONTROL

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CONTROL) To exercise influence over; to suggest or dictate the behavior of.

   Synonyms: besteer, bewield, manage, puppeteer, rule

   With a simple remote, he could control the toy truck.Category:English terms with usage examples#CONTROL

   • 2011 March 1, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2 - 1 Man Utd”, in BBC‎:

     This was a wonderful advert for the Premier League, with both Chelsea and United intent on all-out attack - but Ferguson will be concerned at how his side lost their way after imperiously controlling much of the first period.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONTROL

   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly‎, volume 188, number 23, page 19:

     In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]  The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONTROL

2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CONTROL, statisticsCategory:en:Statistics#CONTROL) (construed with for) To design (an experiment) so that the effects of one or more variables are reduced or eliminated.
3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CONTROL, archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#CONTROL) To verify the accuracy of (something or someone, especially a financial account) by comparison with another account.
4. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CONTROL, obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#CONTROL) To call to account, to take to task, to challenge.
   • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 64, lines 94–99:

     I fortuned to come in,
     Thys rebell to behold,
     Whereof I hym controld;
     But he sayde that he wolde
     Agaynst my mynde and wyll
     In my church hawke styll.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONTROL

5. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CONTROL) To hold in check, to curb, to restrain.
   • 1956, American Poultry Journal, volume 87, page 32:

     Because only by the Capette Pellet method of hormonization can growers be assured of controlled dosage and uniform results.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONTROL

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

Noun

control (countable and uncountable, plural controls)Category:English lemmas#CONTROLCategory:English nouns#CONTROLCategory:English uncountable nouns#CONTROLCategory:English countable nouns#CONTROLCategory:English countable nouns#CONTROLCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#CONTROLCategory:Pages with entries#CONTROLCategory:Pages with 5 entries#CONTROL

1. (countableCategory:English countable nouns#CONTROL, uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#CONTROL) An influence or authority over something.

   The government has complete control over the situation.Category:English terms with usage examples#CONTROL

2. The method and means of governing the performance of any apparatus, machine or system, such as a lever, handle or button.
3. Restraint or ability to contain one's movements or emotions, or self-control.
   • 2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in New York Times‎:

     She had no control of her body as she tumbled downhill. She did not know up from down. It was not unlike being cartwheeled in a relentlessly crashing wave.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONTROL

   • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:

     The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you […] "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONTROL

4. A security mechanism, policy, or procedure that can counter system attack, reduce risks, and resolve vulnerabilities; a safeguard or countermeasure.
5. (project management) A means of monitoring for, and triggering intervention in, activities that are not going according to plan.
6. A control group or control experiment.
7. A duplicate book, register, or account, kept to correct or check another account or register.
   • 2006, Henry Lunt, Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, page 297:

     “The entries in the control accounts reflect respectively the effect of the transactions on the value of Korrinna company’s receivables (sales ledger control account) and payables (purchase ledger control account.”

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONTROL

   • 2012, Harold Randall, David Hopkins, Cambridge International AS and A Level Accounting Textbook, page 78:

     "Make sure you enter the total of any credit balances in the sales ledger into the Sales Ledger Control Account and the total of any debit balances in the purchase ledger into the Purchase Ledger Control Account."

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONTROL

   • 2012, Aurora M.N., A textbook of Cost and Management Accounting, 10th Edition, page 12-3:

     “Wages Control Account: This account records wage transactions in aggregate. Postings are made from wage analysis sheet. This account is debited with gross wages (paid and accrued) and is closed by transfer of direct wages to work-in-progress and indirect wages to factory, administration and selling and distribution overheads control accounts as illustrated below:”

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONTROL

8. (graphical user interfaceCategory:en:Graphical user interface#CONTROL) An interface element that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box.

   Synonym: widget

9. (climatologyCategory:en:Climatology#CONTROL) Any of the physical factors determining the climate of a place, such as latitude, distribution of land and water, altitude, exposure, prevailing winds, permanent high- or low-barometric-pressure areas, ocean currents, mountain barriers, soil, and vegetation.
10. (linguisticsCategory:en:Linguistics#CONTROL) A construction in which the understood subject of a given predicate is determined by an expression in context. See control.
11. (parapsychologyCategory:en:Parapsychology#CONTROL) A spirit that takes possession of a psychic or medium and allows other spirits to communicate with the living.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

      "Ah, who are they? I wonder. Guides, controls, psychic entities of some kind. Who the agents of vengeance - or I should say justice - are, is really not essential."

      Category:English terms with quotations#CONTROL

12. (cyclingCategory:en:Cycling#CONTROL, countableCategory:English countable nouns#CONTROL) A checkpoint along an audax route.
    • 2019, Emily Chappell, Where There's a Will:

      […] the self-acknowledged stereotype of the audaxer as a socially awkward middle-aged man, […] carefully avoiding eye contact as a volunteer serves him his cup of tea and plate of baked beans in one of the draughty village halls that typically host audax controls.

      Category:English terms with quotations#CONTROL

      Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

Further reading

• “control”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “control”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• control on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Control in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• “control”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “control”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “control”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Etymology

Borrowed from FrenchCategory:Catalan terms borrowed from French#CONTROLCategory:Catalan terms derived from French#CONTROL contrôle. First attested in 1917.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kunˈtɾɔl]Category:Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation#CONTROL
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [konˈtɾɔl]Category:Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation#CONTROL

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

  Category:Catalan terms with audio pronunciation#CONTROL

Noun

control m (plural controls)Category:Catalan lemmas#CONTROLCategory:Catalan nouns#CONTROLCategory:Catalan countable nouns#CONTROLCategory:Catalan entries with incorrect language header#CONTROLCategory:Catalan masculine nouns#CONTROLCategory:Pages with entries#CONTROLCategory:Pages with 5 entries#CONTROL

1. control
2. check, inspection
3. checkpoint
4. influence, authority

References

Further reading

• “control”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “control” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “control” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from EnglishCategory:Portuguese terms borrowed from English#CONTROLCategory:Portuguese unadapted borrowings from English#CONTROLCategory:Portuguese terms derived from English#CONTROL control. The established pronunciation reflects a widespread mispronunciation of the English word. Doublet of controle and controloCategory:Portuguese doublets#CONTROL.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -ɔlCategory:Rhymes:Portuguese/ɔl#CONTROLCategory:Rhymes:Portuguese/ɔl/2 syllables#CONTROL
• Hyphenation: con‧trol

Noun

control m (plural controls)Category:Portuguese lemmas#CONTROLCategory:Portuguese nouns#CONTROLCategory:Portuguese countable nouns#CONTROLCategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#CONTROLCategory:Portuguese masculine nouns#CONTROLCategory:Pages with entries#CONTROLCategory:Pages with 5 entries#CONTROL

1. (computer hardwareCategory:pt:Computer hardware#CONTROL) control key

Etymology

Borrowed from FrenchCategory:Romanian terms borrowed from French#CONTROLCategory:Romanian terms derived from French#CONTROL contrôle.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:Romanian terms with audio pronunciation#CONTROL

Noun

control n (plural controale)Category:Romanian lemmas#CONTROLCategory:Romanian nouns#CONTROLCategory:Romanian nouns with red links in their headword lines#CONTROLCategory:Romanian countable nouns#CONTROLCategory:Romanian entries with incorrect language header#CONTROLCategory:Romanian neuter nouns#CONTROLCategory:Pages with entries#CONTROLCategory:Pages with 5 entries#CONTROL

1. control

Etymology

Borrowed from FrenchCategory:Spanish terms borrowed from French#CONTROLCategory:Spanish terms derived from French#CONTROL contrôle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /konˈtɾol/ [kõn̪ˈt̪ɾol]Category:Spanish 2-syllable words#CONTROLCategory:Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation#CONTROL
• Rhymes: -olCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/ol#CONTROLCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/ol/2 syllables#CONTROL
• Syllabification: con‧trol

Noun

control m (plural controles)Category:Spanish lemmas#CONTROLCategory:Spanish nouns#CONTROLCategory:Spanish countable nouns#CONTROLCategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#CONTROLCategory:Spanish masculine nouns#CONTROLCategory:Pages with entries#CONTROLCategory:Pages with 5 entries#CONTROL

1. control, or running of a business
2. control of a machine

   Synonyms: control remoto, mando, mando a distancia, telemando

3. control or emotional restraint, self-control
4. (Latin AmericaCategory:Latin American Spanish#CONTROL) remote control

   Synonyms: control remoto, mando, mando a distancia

5. (video gamesCategory:es:Video games#CONTROL, Latin AmericaCategory:Latin American Spanish#CONTROL) controller, gamepad, joypad

   Synonym: mando

6. (medicineCategory:es:Medicine#CONTROL) checkup

   Synonym: chequeo

Further reading

• “control”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025