Regulated

How to spell regulated

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce regulated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does regulated mean?

1. verbControlled, supervised, or kept to a standard by means of rules or authority.

Regulated in a sentence

• The banking sector is closely regulated by the central authority.

• A carefully regulated thermostat keeps the office at a steady temperature.

Where does regulated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past form of 'regulate', which comes from the Late Latin regulatus, the past participle of regulare, meaning 'to control by rule'. That verb was built on the Latin regula, a noun meaning 'a straight rod' or 'a ruler', and by extension 'a pattern or rule'. Regula itself traces back to regere, 'to lead straight' or 'to govern', the same root that gives us 'regular', 'rule', and even 'regime'. English adopted 'regulate' in the early 1600s with the sense of adjusting something to a required standard, and the spelling kept the Latin 'g' before 'u' that can tempt writers toward a softer-sounding spelling. The shared regula ancestor is why 'regulate' and 'regular' look and feel so alike.

How the word is built

• regul- (from Latin regula: a rule or straight rod)
• -ate (verb-forming suffix)
• -ed (past tense/participle)