Dictionary

regulate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈɹɛɡ.jə.leɪt/ (General-American)
• (US) audio
• /ˈɹɛɡ.jʊ.leɪt/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin regulatus, perfect passive participle of regulō (“to direct, rule, regulate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from regula (“rule”), from regō (“to keep straight, direct, govern, rule”). Compare regle, rail. Displaced native Old English metegian.

Meanings

1. To dictate policy.
2. To control or direct according to rule, principle, or law.
   • the laws which regulate the succession of the seasons 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, 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:
   • But on Tuesday, Sam Altman[…] testified before members of a Senate subcommittee and largely agreed with them on the need to regulate the increasingly powerful A.I. technology being created inside his company and others like Google and Microsoft. 2023 May 16, Cecilia Kang, “OpenAI’s Sam Altman Urges A.I. Regulation in Senate Hearing”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 16 May 2023:
   • The herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own disputes, and regulated their own police. 1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC:
   • The NFA has been a flashpoint for advocates, who say that silencers are not frequently used in crime and believe that the silencers and other weapons regulated under the law, including machine guns and short-barreled rifles and shotguns, are protected by the Second Amendment. 2025 March 26, Hannah Rabinowitz, “DOJ considers abandoning the defense of federal restrictions on gun silencers”, in CNN:
3. 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.
4. To put or maintain in order.
   • to regulate one's eating habits
   • to regulate the disordered state of a nation or its finances

Forms

Deriveds

downregulate · regulatability · myoregulin · coregulate · autoregulate · interregulate · microregulate · reregulation · hyporegulate · phosphoregulate · regulon · hyperregulate · misregulate · regulative · underregulate · nonregulating · overregulate · crossregulate · dysregulate · self-regulate · reregulate · immunoregulate · osmoregulate · unregulate · self-regulating · counterregulate · immunoregulating · deregulate · mechanoregulate · retroregulate · regulatable · irregulate · upregulate · transregulate · photoregulate · coregulating · thermoregulate

Relateds

regulator · rule · regulation · regular · ruler

Translations (29)

dsb regulěrowaś (adjust) · hu szabályoz (adjust) · hy կարգավորել (adjust) · de regulieren (adjust) · ar ضَبَطَ (adjust) · it regolare (adjust) · fi säätää (adjust) · hu irányít (adjust) · ang metegian (adjust) · cmn 調節 /调节 (adjust) · fr régler (adjust) · dsb regulowaś (adjust) · es reglamentar (control) · bg регулирам (adjust) · cs regulovat (adjust) · de regeln (adjust) · ko 규정하다 (adjust) · grc κανονίζω (adjust) · ru регули́ровать (adjust) · tr regüle etmek (adjust) · nl regelen (adjust) · sv reglera (adjust) · it registrare (adjust) · ja 調節する (adjust) · pt regular (adjust) · it tarare (adjust) · ru отрегули́ровать (adjust) · es regular (adjust) · ro regula (adjust)