controller
Americannoun
-
an employee, often an officer, of a business firm who checks expenditures, finances, etc.; comptroller.
-
a person who regulates, directs, or restrains.
-
British Aeronautics. a dispatcher.
-
a regulating mechanism; governor.
-
Also called control unit, processor. Computers. the key component of a device, as a terminal, printer, or external storage unit, that contains the circuitry necessary to interpret and execute instructions fed into the device.
-
Digital Technology. a remote piece of hardware used to direct or control an electronic device.
a video game controller.
noun
-
a person who directs, regulates, or restrains
-
Also called: comptroller. a business executive or government officer who is responsible for financial planning, control, etc
-
the equipment concerned with controlling the operation of an electrical device
Other Word Forms
- controllership noun
Etymology
Origin of controller
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English countrollour, from Anglo-French countrero(u)llour, Middle French contrerolleur, equivalent to contrerolle “duplicate roll” + -eur, -our, from Latin -ōr- or -ātōr- noun suffixes; control, -or 2, -ator
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The U.S. government says the actions of an air traffic controller and Army helicopter pilot played a role in a fatal collision in January near the nation’s capital.
From Los Angeles Times
Tim Riley, owner of Heavy Water Coffee Shop in Chinatown, said trust in government is at an all-time low and urged the commission to keep the controller’s powers intact.
From Los Angeles Times
The damped-action rotary controller between the front seats dates to the Late Cretaceous.
On February 19, a backup radar at the airport temporarily failed, after a similar problem in August, air traffic controllers said.
From Barron's
They have cameras that feed information back to their controllers in a command centre that might be 30 or 40km away.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
