controlled
Americanadjective
-
held in check; curbed.
poorly controlled anger.
-
carefully regulated, tested, or verified.
a controlled experiment.
-
(of a drug) restricted by law as to possession and use.
Morphine is a controlled drug.
Etymology
Origin of controlled
First recorded in 1580–90; control ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. )
Explanation
Something that's controlled is kept in check or restrained. Your controlled laughter in math class won't get you in trouble, because it's muted and calm. Some people really blow their stacks when they get angry, while others express a controlled anger, calmly explaining their frustration. The ability to keep your emotions controlled is a useful one. A different meaning of controlled is "restricted by law," — many medications and drugs are classified as "controlled substances. The root of both controlled and control is the Latin contrarotulus, "a register, counter, or record of something."
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.
The experiments involved bacteria and cell models under controlled laboratory conditions.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
To address this issue, I ran a regression that used the period before ChatGPT’s launch as a sort of “pre-treatment” period that also controlled for things like the worker’s education and earnings.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit, controlled by self-perpetuating directors with a mission to develop AI safely to benefit humanity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
"But the best team won. All the phases were controlled by Spain - we are used to what Spain are doing but they're doing it so well."
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
And it just so happened that she was married to Hale’s nephew Ernest, a man who, as an agent wrote in a report, “is absolutely controlled by Hale.”
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
