From Middle English controllen, from Old French contrerole, from Medieval Latin contrārotulum, from Latin contrā + Medieval Latin rotulus, Latin rotula, diminutive of rota.

• (British) IPA: /kənˈtɹəʊl/
• (America) IPA: /kənˈtɹoʊl/

control (third-person singular simple present controls, present participle controlling, simple past and past participle controlled)

1. (transitive) 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.

2. (transitive, statistics) (construed with for) To design (an experiment) so that the effects of one or more variables are reduced or eliminated.
3. (transitive, archaic) To verify the accuracy of (something or someone, especially a financial account) by comparison with another account.
4. (transitive, obsolete) 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.

5. (transitive) To hold in check, to curb, to restrain.

• defy, rebel, resist (not to be controlled)
• obey, submit (to be controlled)

• French: contrôler
• German: steuern, kontrollieren, regeln
• Italian: controllare, influenzare, dirigere
• Portuguese: controlar
• Russian: управля́ть
• Spanish: controlar

control

1. (countable, uncountable) An influence or authority over something.

   The government has complete control over the situation.

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.
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.
8. (graphical user interface) An interface element that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box (abbreviated Ctrl).

   Synonyms: widget

9. (climatology) 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. (linguistics) A construction in which the understood subject of a given predicate is determined by an expression in context. See control (linguistics).
11. (spiritualism, parapsychology) 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."

12. (cycling, countable) 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.

• French: maîtrise, contrôle
• German: Kontrolle
• Italian: controllo, comando, autorità
• Portuguese: controlo (Portugal), controle (Brazil)
• Russian: власть
• Spanish: administración, control, dirección, manejo, organización

• French: commandes
• German: Kontrollen, Regelung, Regeln
• Italian: comandi
• Spanish: control, mando

• Spanish: control, autodominio

• Spanish: contramedida

• German: Kontrollelement, Steuerelement