HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
tr.v. con·trolled, con·trol·ling, con·trols 1. To exercise authoritative or dominating influence over; direct: The majority party controls the legislative agenda. See Synonyms at conduct. 2. To adjust to a requirement; regulate: rules that control trading on the stock market; valves that control the flow of water. 3. To hold in restraint; check: struggled to control my temper. 4. To reduce or prevent the spread of: used a pesticide to control insects; controlled the fire by dousing it with water. 5. a. To verify or regulate (a scientific experiment) by conducting a parallel experiment or by comparing with another standard. b. To verify (a financial account, for example) by using a duplicate register for comparison. n. 1. Authority or ability to manage or direct: lost control of the skidding car; the leaders in control of the country. 2. One that controls; a controlling agent, device, or organization. 3. a. An instrument. b. controls A set of such instruments. 4. A restraining device, measure, or limit; a curb: a control on prices; price controls. 5. a. A standard of comparison for checking or verifying the results of a scientific experiment. b. An individual or group used as a standard of comparison in a scientific experiment, as a group of subjects given an inactive substance in an experiment testing a new drug administered to another group of subjects. 6. An intelligence agent who supervises or instructs another agent. 7. A spirit presumed to speak or act through a medium. [Middle English controllen, from Anglo-Norman contreroller, from Medieval Latin contrārotulāre, to check by duplicate register, from contrārotulus, duplicate register : Latin contrā-, contra- + Latin rotulus, roll, diminutive of rota, wheel; see ret- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] con·trol′la·bili·ty n. con·trolla·ble adj. con·trolla·bly adv. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
