- control
- {{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}} noun1 power over sb/sthADJECTIVE▪ absolute, complete, full, total▪ effective, proper (esp. BrE)▪ close, strict, tight▪
Weeds should be kept under strict control.
▪ direct▪ centralized, government, political, social, state▪ civilian, military▪He defended the tradition of civilian control over the military.
▪ parentalVERB + CONTROL▪ have▪ achieve, assert, establish, gain, get▪ assume, grab, seize, take, win▪A military junta took control of the country.
▪ wrest (from sb)▪attempts to wrest control of the town from government forces
▪ keep, maintain, retain▪She struggled to keep control of her voice.
▪ lose▪ cede, relinquish, surrender▪He lost control of the car when he swerved to avoid a bicycle.
▪ hand over, transfer▪He wants to hand over control of social security to the private sector.
▪ get out of, go out of▪The car went out of control on the icy road.
▪ reassert, re-establish, regain, retake▪Enemy forces have now regained control of the area.
▪ give sb/sth▪The idea is to give local authorities full control of their own budgets.
▪ exercise, exert▪Editors do not exercise control over large sections of their newspapers.
▪ centralize▪government plans to centralize control of schools
▪ bring sth under, get sth under▪They soon got the situation under control.
CONTROL + NOUN▪ freak▪He's a real control freak.
PREPOSITION▪ beyond your control, outside your control▪Parking is outside my control.
▪ in control (of)▪The elected government is back in control.
▪ out of control▪I had this feeling that things were out of control.
▪ under (sb's) control▪Everything is under control
▪The department was under the control of Bryce Thompson.
▪ control over▪They have little control over that side of the business.
PHRASES▪ circumstances beyond sb's control▪The race has been called off due to circumstances beyond our control.
2 limiting/managing sthADJECTIVE▪ quality▪ inventory (esp. AmE), stock (esp. BrE)▪ budgetary (esp. BrE), cost, rent▪ crowd▪The police are experts in crowd control.
▪ air traffic, traffic▪ birth▪ arms, gun▪ crime▪ damage▪ erosion, flood, pest, pollution, weed▪ bladder, impulse, weight▪Many teenagers have poor impulse control.
VERB + CONTROL▪ improve▪ ensureCONTROL + NOUN▪ measure, mechanism▪New crime control measures have failed.
▪ centre/center, room, tower▪the air traffic control tower
3 (usually controls) method of limiting/managing sthADJECTIVE▪ strict, stringent, tight, tough (esp. BrE)▪ lax▪ border, export, price▪calls for tougher export controls
VERB + CONTROL▪ implement, impose, introduce▪The government has imposed strict controls on new building.
▪ tighten▪The country has tightened its border controls.
▪ relax▪plans to relax price controls
▪ lift, removePREPOSITION▪ control on▪They have introduced controls on public spending.
4 for operating a machineADJECTIVE▪ remote▪ volume▪ cruiseVERB + CONTROL▪ take▪Once we were in the air, I was allowed to take the controls.
CONTROL + NOUN▪ panel▪ device, stick (AmE), unit▪a programmable control unit
▪ circuit, valve▪the water pressure control valve
PREPOSITION▪ at the controls▪{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}Chief Air Officer Sedley was at the controls of the Boeing 707.
verb1 restrict/manageADVERB▪ carefully, precisely, rigidly, strictly, tightly▪Conditions in the greenhouse are carefully controlled.
▪Expenditure within the company is tightly controlled.
▪ adequately, effectively, properly▪ poorly▪ centrally, directly2 operateADVERB▪ automatically, electronically, manually▪The shutters can be electronically controlled.
▪ remotely▪ easily▪You can easily control the speed of the fan.
Control is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑force, ↑gene, ↑ministry, ↑muscle, ↑nerve, ↑party, ↑pedal, ↑regulation, ↑switchControl is used with these nouns as the object: ↑access, ↑aggression, ↑airspace, ↑anger, ↑appetite, ↑ball, ↑behaviour, ↑bladder, ↑blaze, ↑bleeding, ↑blood pressure, ↑breathing, ↑budget, ↑chaos, ↑conversation, ↑cost, ↑council, ↑craving, ↑crime, ↑crowd, ↑desire, ↑destiny, ↑disease, ↑distribution, ↑drinking, ↑economy, ↑emission, ↑emotion, ↑enterprise, ↑environment, ↑erosion, ↑excitement, ↑executive, ↑expenditure, ↑export, ↑fate, ↑finance, ↑fire, ↑fit, ↑flame, ↑flea, ↑flow, ↑frontier, ↑fury, ↑growth, ↑humidity, ↑illness, ↑immigration, ↑import, ↑impulse, ↑inflation, ↑insect, ↑instinct, ↑intake, ↑laughter, ↑level, ↑lighting, ↑machinery, ↑malaria, ↑market, ↑mechanism, ↑media, ↑mind, ↑mosquito, ↑movement, ↑muscle, ↑nerve, ↑number, ↑pain, ↑pest, ↑pollution, ↑printer, ↑process, ↑production, ↑puppet, ↑rage, ↑reflex, ↑situation, ↑size, ↑spread, ↑supply, ↑symptom, ↑temper, ↑temperature, ↑tempo, ↑territory, ↑trade, ↑traffic, ↑tremor, ↑urge, ↑vermin, ↑violence, ↑voice, ↑weed, ↑zone
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
