- [uncountable] the power to make decisions about how a country, an area, an organization, etc. is run
- control of somebody/something The party expects to gain control of the council in the next election.
- Militants have taken control of the town.
- The Democrats have lost control of Congress.
- A military junta seized control of the country.
- The founders eventually regained control of the company.
- control over somebody/something He defended the tradition of civilian control over the military.
- in the control of somebody/something The city is in the control of enemy forces.
- under… control The area remains under international control.
Extra Examples- Editors do not exercise control over large sections of their newspapers.
- Enemy forces have now regained control of the area.
- He wants to hand over control of social security to the private sector.
- Parking is outside my control.
- The department was under the control of Bryce Thompson.
- The idea is to give councils full control of their own budgets.
- They have little control over that side of the business.
- attempts to wrest control of the town from government forces
- government plans to centralize control of schools
- The family has sold most of its shares and will lose control of the company.
- The city is under enemy control.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- absolute
- complete
- full
- …
- have
- achieve
- assert
- …
- freak
- beyond your control
- outside your control
- in control (of)
- …
- circumstances beyond somebody’s control
- [uncountable] the ability to make somebody/something do what you want
- control over somebody/something The teacher had no control over the children.
- He fought hard to retain control over his work.
- control of something She struggled to keep control of her voice.
- She lost control of her car on the ice.
- He got so angry he lost control (= shouted and said or did things he would not normally do).
- beyond/outside somebody's control Owing to circumstances beyond our control, the flight to Rome has been cancelled.
- under control The situation is under control.
- The coach made the team work hard on ball control (= in a ball game).
Extra Examples- The aim is to give people more control over their own lives.
- He lost control of the car when he swerved to avoid a bicycle.
- The event has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control.
- The police are experts in crowd control.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- absolute
- complete
- full
- …
- have
- achieve
- assert
- …
- freak
- beyond your control
- outside your control
- in control (of)
- …
- circumstances beyond somebody’s control
- [uncountable, countable] (often in compounds) the act of limiting or managing something; a method of doing this
- traffic control
- talks on arms control
- controls on something tight controls on government spending
- Price controls on food were ended.
- control of something exciting advances in the control of malaria
- state control of the economy
- It was an exercise in damage control (= trying to prevent further damage).
- A pest control officer was called in to deal with the rat problem.
Synonyms limitlimitrestriction ▪ control ▪ constraint ▪ restraint ▪ limitationThese are all words for something that limits what you can do or what can happen.limit the greatest or smallest amount of something that is allowed:- The EU has set strict limits on pollution levels.
- the speed limit
- There are no restrictions on the amount of money you can withdraw.
- arms control
- We have to work within severe constraints of time and money.
- The government has imposed export restraints on some products.
- The unions are unlikely to accept any sort of wage restraint.
- They would resist any limitation of their powers.
- limits/restrictions/controls/constraints/restraints/limitations on something
- limits/limitations to something
- severe limits/restrictions/controls/constraints/restraints/limitations
- tight limits/restrictions/controls/constraints
- to impose/remove limits/restrictions/controls/constraints/restraints/limitations
- to lift restrictions/controls/constraints/restraints
Extra Examples- calls for tougher export controls
- Many teenagers have poor impulse control.
- plans to relax price controls
- the water pressure control valve
- They have introduced controls on public spending.
- The government has imposed strict controls on new building.
- The country has tightened its border controls.
- New crime control measures have failed.
- A new advance has been made in the control of malaria.
- government controls on trade and industry
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- strict
- stringent
- tight
- …
- implement
- impose
- introduce
- …
- control on
- [countable, usually plural] the switches and buttons, etc. that you use to operate a machine or a vehicle
- the controls of an aircraft
- the control panel
- the volume control of a TV
- at the controls The co-pilot was at the controls when the plane landed.
Extra Examples- Chief Air Officer Sedley was at the controls of the Boeing 707.
- Once we were in the air, I was allowed to take the controls.
- a programmable control unit
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- remote
- volume
- cruise
- …
- take
- panel
- device
- stick
- …
- at the controls
- [countable] (specialist) a person, thing or group used as a standard of comparison for checking the results of a scientific experiment; an experiment whose result is known, used for checking working methods
- The study showed that women with the disease have had fewer children than the controls.
- One group was treated with the new drug, and the control group was given a sugar pill.
- [singular] a place where orders are given or where checks are made; the people who work in this place
- We went through passport control and into the departure lounge.
- [uncountable] (also control key [singular])(on a computer keyboard) a key that you press when you want to perform a particular operationTopics Computersc1
power
limiting/managing
in machine
in experiment
place
on computer
Word Originlate Middle English (as a verb in the sense ‘check or verify accounts’, especially by referring to a duplicate register): from Anglo-Norman French contreroller ‘keep a copy of a roll of accounts’, from medieval Latin contrarotulare, from contrarotulus ‘copy of a roll’, from contra- ‘against’ + rotulus ‘a roll’. The noun is perhaps via French contrôle.
Idioms
See control in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee control in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishbe in control (of something)
- to direct or manage an organization, an area or a situation
- He's reached retiring age, but he's still firmly in control.
- There has been some violence after the match, but the police are now in control of the situation.
- The elected government is back in control.
- to be able to organize your life well and keep calm
- In spite of all her family problems, she's really in control.
be/get/run/etc. out of control
- to be or become impossible to manage or to control
- The children are completely out of control since their father left.
- A truck ran out of control on the hill.
Extra Examples- The car went out of control on the icy road.
- I had this feeling that things were out of control.
be under control
- to be being dealt with successfully
- Don't worry—everything's under control!
bring/get/keep something under control
- to succeed in dealing with something so that it does not cause any damage or hurt anyone
- It took two hours to bring the fire under control.
- Please keep your dog under control!
Extra Examples- They soon got the situation under control.
- Weeds should be kept under strict control.
Check pronunciation:
control