self-regulate

Also self reg·u·late

[self-reg-yuh-leyt]

verb (used with or without object)

self-regulated, self-regulating 

1. to make necessary adjustments automatically or by means of built-in or internal mechanisms.

   She argued that state interventions do not allow the market to self-regulate through its own feedback loops.

   Our focus will be on finding ways to allow electronic systems to self-regulate the amount of energy they use.

2. to govern oneself by voluntarily creating and following one’s own rules or guidelines, as for a particular area of oversight.

   The transport agency is cracking down after years of relying on trucking companies to self-regulate their safety standards.

3. Psychology.,  to monitor and cope with one’s emotions, physical states, thoughts, and behavior in healthy, socially acceptable ways.

   We teach parents strategies to help their children learn to self-regulate.

   Eventually he began to self-regulate his feelings of anxiety and take more risks.

Other Word Forms

• self-regulated adjective
• self-regulating adjective
• self-regulation noun
• self-regulative adjective
• self-regulatory adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-regulate¹

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

“People and the environment suffer when companies are left to self-regulate with weak voluntary standards,” the letter stated.

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So they are regulating two components which self-regulate each other.

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Officials in Santa Barbara allowed phone use outside of class because they wanted teens to learn to “self-regulate” their relationship to the devices, said Superintendent Hilda Maldonado.

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While the US has introduced strict legislation to ban all Xinjiang exports, Europe and the UK take a softer approach, allowing companies simply to self-regulate to ensure forced labour is not used in supply chains.

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The same year, the UK government resisted pressure to regulate loot boxes, saying the video game industry could self-regulate instead.

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