# regulation

Pronunciation: US say "reg-yuu-LAY-shun" /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/; UK

## Noun

1. A rule or law issued by an organization to guide or direct how its members behave.
   - Simple: A rule made by a group or company to control how its members behave.
   - _The university introduced a regulation requiring all students to register by Friday._
   - _Employees who break these regulations may lose their jobs._
2. The act of controlling or managing something through rules, or the condition of being so controlled.
   - Simple: The act of controlling something, or being controlled, by rules.
   - _Stricter regulation of the banking sector followed the financial crisis._
   - _The regulation of emissions has reduced pollution in many cities._
3. A type of law created by the executive branch of government, usually under authority granted by a statute from the legislature.
   - Simple: A rule with the force of law, made by a government department instead of by lawmakers.
   - _The environmental agency passed a regulation capping vehicle emissions._
   - _Courts upheld the regulation because the statute clearly authorized it._
5. A numbered provision within a body of law made by the executive branch of government.
   - Simple: A numbered rule inside a larger set of government rules.
   - _The inspector cited Regulation 9 when issuing the fine._
   - _Several regulations in the code address waste disposal directly._
6. The physiological process by which the body maintains a stable internal state, known as homeostasis.
   - Simple: The way the body keeps things like heat and water balanced.
   - _Hormonal regulation controls how the body responds to stress._
   - _The regulation of body temperature relies on sweating and shivering._
7. The mechanism that controls DNA transcription, determining which genes are expressed and how strongly.
   - Simple: The way cells turn genes on or off to control what they do.
   - _Gene regulation allows a single genome to produce many different cell types._
   - _Errors in regulation can lead to cancer when genes stay switched on._
8. A form of European Union legislative act that becomes law directly, without needing any further action by member states. *(dialectal, European Union)*
   - Simple: A European Union law that takes effect on its own in every member country.
   - _The regulation took effect across the union the moment it was published._
   - _Unlike a directive, a regulation binds every member state without national legislation._

## Adjective

4. Conforming to the official rules that apply in a given setting.
   - Simple: Exactly the way the official rules say something must be.
   - _The diving board sat at the regulation height above the pool._
   - _Officials checked that the goalposts met regulation width._

## Origin

Formed from the verb "regulate" combined with the suffix "-ion."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/regulation (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).