controller

[kuhn-troh-ler]

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

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• controllership noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of controller¹

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

Nick Daniels, the union’s president, said during a Senate hearing on Wednesday that controllers weren’t calling out of work during the shutdown out of protest.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Now, Mejia’s corgis are the subject of a complaint submitted to the city’s Ethics Commission, alleging that the controller has impermissibly blurred the lines between his government communications and his campaign operation.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Autumn kicks her controller back up and starts the next game.

Read more on Literature

Air-traffic controllers, classified as essential personnel, were expected to work through the funding impasse, with paychecks deferred until the end of the shutdown.

Read more on MarketWatch

NRF2 serves as a master controller of how cells respond to stress, and when it becomes overly active, cancer cells are better able to survive chemotherapy.

Read more on Science Daily

Related Words

• authority 
• bureaucrat 
• chief 
• commander 
• custodian 
• dean 
• director 
• executive 
• head 
• inspector 
• judge 
• leader 
• manager 
• minister 
• officer 
• official 
• organizer 
• superintendent 
• supervisor