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control tower

American

noun

a glass-enclosed, elevated structure for the visual observation and control of the air and ground traffic at an airport.

control tower British

noun

a tower at an airport from which air traffic is controlled

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of control tower

First recorded in 1915–20

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:

control tower

A lifelong aviation enthusiast, she said she had always wanted to visit the airport's air traffic control tower, and described the experience as one of the highlights of her bucket list.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

He maintains that ServiceNow is fundamentally different because it is a platform company, acting as a control tower astride legacy systems, enabling AI models to interact securely across enterprise workflows.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

It is effectively a watchtower or control tower for all your data.

From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026

In audio from the control tower at the time of the crash, an air traffic controller can be heard urgently asking the truck to come to a stop.

From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2026

Once, they took off and were flying in formation when the control tower summoned them down.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023