regulate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin regulatus, past participle of regulō (“to direct, rule, regulate”), from regula (“rule”), from regō (“to keep straight, direct, govern, rule”). Compare regle, rail. Displaced native Old English metegian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛɡjəleɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: re‧gu‧late

Verb

regulate (third-person singular simple present regulates, present participle regulating, simple past and past participle regulated)

1. To dictate policy.
2. To control or direct according to rule, principle, or law.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 11, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323:

     the laws which regulate the succession of the seasons

   • 1834, George Bancroft, History of the United States of America, from the Discovery of the Continent

     The herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own disputes, and regulated their own police.

3. To adjust to a particular specification or requirement: regulate temperature.
4. To adjust (a mechanism) for accurate and proper functioning.

   to regulate a watch, i.e. adjust its rate of running so that it will keep approximately standard time

   to regulate the temperature of a room, the pressure of steam, the speed of a machine, etc.

5. To put or maintain in order.

   to regulate the disordered state of a nation or its finances

   to regulate one's eating habits

Derived terms

• deregulate
• downregulate
• upregulate

Related terms

• rule
• ruler
• regular
• regulation
• regulator

Translations

control — see control

adjust

• Arabic: ضَبَطَ‎ (ḍabaṭa)
• Bulgarian: регулирам (bg) (reguliram)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 調節 (zh) (guǎnzhì), 调节 (zh) (tiáojié)

• Czech: regulovat
• Dutch: regelen (nl)
• Finnish: säätää (fi)
• French: régler (fr)
• German: regeln (de), regulieren (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: κανονίζω (kanonízō)

• Hungarian: irányít (hu), szabályoz (hu)

• Italian: regolare (it), registrare (it), tarare (it)
• Japanese: 調節する (ja) (ちょうせつする, chōsetsu suru)
• Korean: 규정하다 (ko) (gyujeong-hada)
• Old English: metegian
• Portuguese: regular (pt)
• Romanian: regula (ro)
• Russian: регули́ровать (ru) impf (regulírovatʹ), отрегули́ровать (ru) pf (otregulírovatʹ)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: regulowaś impf, regulěrowaś impf

• Spanish: regular (es)
• Swedish: reglera (sv)
• Turkish: regüle etmek (tr)

Further reading

• “regulate” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “regulate” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• legature

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Latin

Verb

rēgulāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of rēgulō