Meaning & use
control booth
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Meanings
nouncountable
A small room from which people operate lights, sound, or equipment for a show or event.
Grammar: Countable: a control booth, the control booths.
Patterns
- in the control booth
- run something from the control booth
- the control booth at a stadium
The sound engineer watched the stage from the control booth at the back of the hall.
From the control booth, she dimmed the lights as the actors entered.
The stadium's control booth coordinates the scoreboard, music, and announcements.
nouncountabletechnical
A small enclosed space where a person controls a machine, gate, or broadcast.
Grammar: Countable and often used with 'in': the operator sits in the control booth.
Patterns
- the control booth operator
- work in a control booth
- a control booth for a radio station
The radio host waved to her producer through the glass of the control booth.
A guard in the control booth raises the barrier when a car approaches.
The train driver spoke to the control booth before leaving the station.
Word forms
| plural | control booths |
|---|
Common combinations
- in the control booth
- The director stayed in the control booth during the whole broadcast.
- control booth window
- He tapped on the control booth window to get the technician's attention.
- from the control booth
- The lighting changes are made from the control booth.
- control booth operator
- The control booth operator adjusted the microphone levels.
Synonyms and how they differ
- booth
- Shorter and more general; it can mean any small enclosed space, so 'control booth' is clearer when you mean the technical room.
- control room
- Usually a larger space for operating a system, such as in a factory or power station, rather than a small booth at a venue.
Word family
- booth noun
- A small enclosed space or stall, such as a phone booth or ticket booth.
- controller noun
- A person or device that directs the operation of something.
Commonly confused: control booth or polling booth?
control booth vs polling booth
A polling booth is where people vote; a control booth is where technicians operate equipment.
Practice
Where would you most likely find a control booth?
Choose one answer.
A control booth is a small room for operating technical equipment, especially lights and sound at a show. The other places do not involve that kind of live technical control.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “control booth”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.