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controller

American  
[kuhn-troh-ler] / kənˈtroʊ lər /

noun

  1. an employee, often an officer, of a business firm who checks expenditures, finances, etc.; comptroller.

  2. a person who regulates, directs, or restrains.

  3. British Aeronautics. a dispatcher.

  4. a regulating mechanism; governor.

  5. 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.

  6. Digital Technology. a remote piece of hardware used to direct or control an electronic device.

    a video game controller.
controller British  
/ kənˈtrəʊlə /

noun

  1. a person who directs, regulates, or restrains

  2. Also called: comptroller.  a business executive or government officer who is responsible for financial planning, control, etc

  3. the equipment concerned with controlling the operation of an electrical device

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

“We’re going to be addressing that, because that was not good,” the air traffic controller responded.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

An air-traffic controller had cleared the vehicle to cross the runway but soon tried to halt it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

An air traffic controller was heard saying: "'Truck One, stop, stop, stop!" seconds before the crash.

From BBC • Mar. 24, 2026

Second controller: "Man, that wasn't good to watch."

From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026

Turns out 9,308 blankets were sold before it was discovered that some percentage of the controller units had been manufactured with faulty resistors.

From "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements

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.