controller
Americannoun
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an employee, often an officer, of a business firm who checks expenditures, finances, etc.; comptroller.
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a person who regulates, directs, or restrains.
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British Aeronautics. a dispatcher.
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a regulating mechanism; governor.
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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.
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Digital Technology. a remote piece of hardware used to direct or control an electronic device.
a video game controller.
noun
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a person who directs, regulates, or restrains
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Also called: comptroller. a business executive or government officer who is responsible for financial planning, control, etc
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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.
After that he then became operations manager and, most recently, a service delivery controller.
From BBC
The computer plays itself quietly, lighting up in measured, zigzagging rows until one or two players take up the controllers, which operate the game’s so-called paddles.
The investigation revealed the controller, distracted by a third plane circling the airport, delayed clearing the SkyWest flight for takeoff and failed to monitor the runway and airspace adequately.
From Los Angeles Times
I wiggle the little controller thing—the mouse—but nothing happens then, either.
From Literature
And the state controller — the elected chief fiscal officer who is responsible to voters for financial oversight of state spending — hasn’t produced California’s annual financial audit on time since 2017.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
