regulate
(verb)
verb
1. fix or adjust the time, amount, degree, or rate of
- regulate the temperature
Similar word(s): modulate
Definition categories: change, adjust, correct, set
2. bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations
- We cannot regulate the way people dress
- This town likes to regulate
Similar word(s): govern, order, regularise, regularize
Definition categories: social, decide, determine
3. shape or influence; give direction to
Similar word(s): determine, influence, mold, shape
Definition categories: cognition, cause, do, make
4. restrain the emission of (sound, fluid, etc.)
Similar word(s): baffle
Definition categories: change, keep, restrain
Sentences with regulate as a verb:
- to regulate a watch, i.e. adjust its rate of running so that it will keep approximately standard time
- to regulate the temperature of a room, the pressure of steam, the speed of a machine, etc.
- to regulate the disordered state of a nation or its finances
- to regulate one's eating habits