- a person who directs, regulates, or restrains
- Also called: comptroller a business executive or government officer who is responsible for financial planning, control, etc
- the equipment concerned with controlling the operation of an electrical device
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
con•trol•ler /kənˈtroʊlɚ/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Businessa government official or an officer of a business firm in charge of financial accounts and transactions;
comptroller:The state controller decided that contributions to the pension fund would stop. - a person who regulates or restrains.
- Mechanical Engineeringa regulating mechanism;
governor.
con•trol•ler
(kən trō′lər),USA pronunciation n.
con•trol′ler•ship′, n.
- Businessan employee, often an officer, of a business firm who checks expenditures, finances, etc.;
comptroller. - a person who regulates, directs, or restrains.
- [Brit. Aeron.]a dispatcher.
- a regulating mechanism;
governor. - ComputingAlso called control unit, processor. the key component of a peripheral device, as a terminal, printer, or external storage unit, that contains the circuitry necessary to interpret and execute instructions fed into the device.
- Latin -ōr- -or2 or -ātōr- -ator
- Anglo-French countrero(u)llour, Middle French contrerolleur, equivalent. to contrerolle duplicate roll (see control) + -eur, -our
- Middle English countrollour 1350–1400
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
controller /kənˈtrəʊlə/ n
'controller' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
air-traffic control
- comptroller
- disk drive
- god
- silhouette
- Turgot
- board of estimate
- ca'
- central bank
- contr.
- control
- control unit
- processor
- Rudra
- towerman