deregulation
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of deregulation
Explanation
A regulation is basically a rule or directive made by an authority. Deregulation is the removal, or cancellation, of certain rules or directives. (The prefix "de-" here means "remove.") Governments set lots of regulations to create order and uniformity in a particular industry, like banking or manufacturing. When bankers and manufacturers don't like these regulations, they ask the government for fewer controls and restrictions, or deregulation. If your parents are constantly meddling in your life and you would like them to give you a little more freedom, you might consider asking them for deregulation. Your vocabulary might just impress them enough to grant it.
Vocabulary lists containing deregulation
Vocabulary from President Trump's First Address to Congress
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Economics
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U.S. Government - Middle School and High School
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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.
“He got in the driver’s seat when the deregulation trend was incipient. He was a champion of deregulating the financial industry.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2026
Bulls say the market has already priced in oil market shifts, and are focusing instead on U.S. economic tailwinds like strong earnings growth, fiscal stimulus, and meaningful deregulation.
From Barron's • May 7, 2026
This is because deregulation allowed airlines to develop networks, that efficiently aggregate and distribute traffic through mergers, international alliances and organic growth.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
The pattern is older than this market, and we have lived through it before, in the savings-and-loan deregulation of the 1980s and again in the years leading up to 2008.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 22, 2026
Privatization, deregulation, competition and liberalization swept across both parts of the continent.
From The Belgian Curtain Europe after Communism by Vaknin, Samuel
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.
