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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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; see control, -or 2, -ator
Explanation
The device that's used to operate a tool or machine is a controller. When you play video games, you move your character around on screen using a joystick or controller. A controller is any object or person that controls something. An air traffic controller is a person who usually works in a control tower at an airport and is in charge of monitoring and directing pilots to make sure planes take off and land safely. Another kind of human controller, also known as a comptroller, is the person in charge of accounting and finances at a business or organization. These controllers have the important job of being in control of the money.
Vocabulary lists containing controller
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.
See Examples For:
Audits by the county auditor-controller, city controller and an outside consulting firm found the agency wasn’t tracking how money was spent or whether housing providers complied with government contracts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
The air traffic controller said in its statement, originally written in Spanish: "Our full support goes out to the crews and passengers who are increasingly having to endure these situations."
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
His best game in possession was against Argentina, but if England are to get over the line in a major tournament they will need him to be more of a controller.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
“I don’t have any radar,” a Newark controller told a flight crew during the outage, “and I can’t protect you.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
I reach across him; I’m sure I can grab the controller without waking him.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
He added that "good pest controllers always, always kill them in a humane manner".
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Vital technology has been upgraded but continues to show vulnerabilities: In mid-June, Newark controllers twice lost radar visibility, including one episode in which controllers couldn’t see aircraft for seven minutes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Some current controllers say the workload can make it more difficult to separate aircraft, particularly when training new controllers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Before the incident, controllers can be heard warning of the presence of fireworks.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
His controllers in England even “arrested” him—but of course he always somehow managed to escape.
From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen
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.
