controller
Americannoun
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an employee, often an officer, of a business firm who checks expenditures, finances, etc.; comptroller.
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a person who regulates, directs, or restrains.
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British Aeronautics. a dispatcher.
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a regulating mechanism; governor.
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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.
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Digital Technology. a remote piece of hardware used to direct or control an electronic device.
a video game controller.
noun
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a person who directs, regulates, or restrains
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Also called: comptroller. a business executive or government officer who is responsible for financial planning, control, etc
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the equipment concerned with controlling the operation of an electrical device
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of controller
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; see control, -or 2, -ator
Explanation
The device that's used to operate a tool or machine is a controller. When you play video games, you move your character around on screen using a joystick or controller. A controller is any object or person that controls something. An air traffic controller is a person who usually works in a control tower at an airport and is in charge of monitoring and directing pilots to make sure planes take off and land safely. Another kind of human controller, also known as a comptroller, is the person in charge of accounting and finances at a business or organization. These controllers have the important job of being in control of the money.
Vocabulary lists containing controller
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:
Audits by the county auditor-controller, city controller and an outside consulting firm found the agency wasn’t tracking how money was spent or whether housing providers complied with government contracts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Cloud gaming allows players to stream and play games online from a remote server using a phone, tablet or controller, rather than downloading and running it on a PC or console at home.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Radio 4 controller Mohit Bakaya described Stourton as an "absolutely outstanding broadcaster", while the BBC's interim news chief Jonathan Munro said it was "far too soon to lose Ed".
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
In the new study, Zhou and colleagues used super-resolution imaging on neurons grown in the laboratory and found that the MPS behaves more like a cellular traffic controller, regulating all major forms of endocytosis.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
Like using a game controller you didn’t have enough practice on.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
He added that "good pest controllers always, always kill them in a humane manner".
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
But by the end of July, the FAA said it expected to lose six of the 28 fully trained controllers overseeing Newark’s airspace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
After his flight was shifted to Teterboro’s tower for air-traffic responsibilities, a pilot wished controllers good luck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Before the incident, controllers can be heard warning of the presence of fireworks.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
It is the public that is being asked to assume the risks that the insect controllers calculate.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
