regulate

present singular third person regulates · participle present regulating · participle past regulated · past regulated

1. To dictate policy.
2. To control or direct according to rule, principle, or law.

   the laws which regulate the succession of the seasons

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

   3 more examples

   The herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own disputes, and regulated their own police.

   1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC

   But on Tuesday, Sam Altman[…] testified before members of a Senate subcommittee and largely agreed with them on the need to regulate the increasingly powerful A.I. technology being created inside his company and others like Google and Microsoft.

   2023 May 16, Cecilia Kang, “OpenAI’s Sam Altman Urges A.I. Regulation in Senate Hearing”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 16 May 2023

   The NFA has been a flashpoint for advocates, who say that silencers are not frequently used in crime and believe that the silencers and other weapons regulated under the law, including machine guns and short-barreled rifles and shotguns, are protected by the Second Amendment.

   2025 March 26, Hannah Rabinowitz, “DOJ considers abandoning the defense of federal restrictions on gun silencers”, in CNN

3. To adjust (a mechanism) for accurate and proper functioning.

   to regulate the temperature of a room, the pressure of steam, the speed of a machine, etc.

   1 more example

   to regulate a watch, i.e. adjust its rate of running so that it will keep approximately standard time

4. To put or maintain in order.

   to regulate one's eating habits

   1 more example

   to regulate the disordered state of a nation or its finances