Regulate | Vocabulary
About this video
Regulate is a verb meaning to make rules that control something. It comes from the Latin root reg, meaning straight like a ruler, which also appears in regular, regiment and regime; adding -ion makes the noun regulation, another word for a legal rule.
You'll be able to
- explain what regulate means and use it in a sentence.
- explain how the root reg connects regulate, regular, regiment and regime.
- change regulate into the noun regulation and use it correctly.
Key words
- regulate
- To make rules that control something, or to control how much of something happens.
- regulation
- A legal rule, such as a limit on how many fish you can catch.
- regular
- Following a rule or pattern, so it is predictable.
- root
- The main part of a word that carries its meaning, like reg in regulate.
Transcript
- [David] All right, wordsmiths, what's up? The word of the day today is regulate. It means to make rules that control something. I'll throw in a 10-second music break. Tell me if you can identify any other common English words that start with reg. All right, here we go, music break.
(groovy music made by my wonderful colleague Walt) All right, so some related words are regular, regiment, regime. All of these words are related to control or order. Regulate comes from the Latin root reg, meaning straight like a ruler. Something that's regular follows a rule or a pattern.
It's predictable. So something that is regulated has been controlled by a rule. That's what that ate part means. It's a word part that makes a verb, because regulate is a verb, it's an action word. So let's use regulate in some sentences. You can use it in a literal sense like "This valve regulates how much fuel goes into the engine."
It is literally controlling the rate of fuel release. But you can also use regulate to refer to lawmaking. And I can use another word part to make this verb into a noun. Okay, so we've got the word regulate, and let me lop off the E on the end and add I-O-N. And now it's a noun, regulation.
Another word for a legal rule. "State regulations only allow you to catch three fish a week." So here's two fisherfolk, doot, doot. This woman has three fish, so she's fine. This man has four fish, so he's probably gonna get a fine from Fish and Wildlife because he didn't adhere to the regulations.
Sorry pal, you've been canceled by the government. All right, you can learn anything, David out.
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