Meanings
plural comptrollers
- The chief accountant of a company or government.
The terms of the licence shall, in default of agreement, be settled by the comptroller.
1988, Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 2371 more example
So the Comptroller and I thence to a tavern hard by, and there did agree upon drawing up some letters to be sent to all the pursers and Clerks of the Cheques to make up their accounts.
1660 March 8 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 28th, 1659–1660”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume I, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page 339Synonyms: administrator, chief, controller, foreman, head, head man, organiser, organizer
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe chief accountant of a company or government.
More synonyms by meaning
nounsomeone who maintains and audits business accounts
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishcompteroller
- Englishcomptroller
From late Middle English compteroller, a spelling variant of countreroller (from which controller) due to folk etymology: the word was thought to have an etymological connection with Middle French compte (“account”) (Middle French compteroleur is attested circa 1375). Originally the two spellings were equivalent and pronounced identically; the modern pronunciation with [mp] is based on the spelling.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with comptroller
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Cite this entry
comptroller. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comptroller
“comptroller.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comptroller. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “comptroller,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comptroller.
Source: comptroller on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.