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Definition of "regulate" []

  • To control or direct according to rule, principle, or law. (verb-transitive)
  • To adjust to a particular specification or requirement: regulate temperature. (verb-transitive)
  • To adjust (a mechanism) for accurate and proper functioning. (verb-transitive)
  • To put or maintain in order: regulate one's eating habits. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "regulate" in a sentence
  • "One of the more credible arguments is that while Congress may regulate commerce between the states (the term regulate meaning something entirely different to the Founders, chiefly that individual state commercial law should have some uniformity), how can Congress regulate non-activity or no commerce?"
  • "But, half the blame can be laid to the ambiguity of the term regulate, and also to the clause general welfare"
  • "It is irrelevant, he states, that politicians, and even the Supreme Court, believe that the term regulate means control of the movement or existence of commodities and services via taxation, quotas, or any other species of interventionism across state lines or within them."