Meaning & use
deregulating
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“deregulating” is a form of “deregulate”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
verbtransitive or intransitivebusiness
Removing or reducing government rules that control how an industry or activity operates.
Grammar: Usually takes an object: the government is deregulating the industry; it can also stand alone.
Patterns
- deregulate something
- deregulate the market
- be deregulating
The government is deregulating the energy market to attract new companies.
Critics warn that deregulating banks could lead to risky lending.
By deregulating taxi services, the city allowed more drivers to compete.
Word forms
| base form | deregulate |
|---|---|
| third person singular | deregulates |
| past tense | deregulated |
| past participle | deregulated |
Common combinations
- deregulating the market
- Deregulating the market opened it to foreign firms.
- deregulating the industry
- Deregulating the industry cut prices but also cut services.
- deregulating airlines
- Deregulating airlines made flying cheaper for many people.
- deregulating banks
- Deregulating banks was a controversial decision.
- deregulating prices
- Deregulating prices allowed shops to compete more freely.
Synonyms and how they differ
- liberalizing
- Liberalizing is broader and can apply to trade or social rules, while deregulating specifically means removing regulations.
- loosening
- Loosening suggests easing rules slightly, whereas deregulating usually means removing a large set of them.
- privatizing
- Privatizing means selling state-owned assets, which is different from deregulating, which only removes rules.
Opposites
Word family
- deregulate verb
- to remove regulations
- deregulation noun
- the removal of regulations
- deregulated adjective
- no longer controlled by rules
- regulation noun
- a rule made by an authority
Commonly confused: deregulating or regulating? deregulating or privatizing?
deregulating vs regulating
Regulating means controlling with rules, the opposite of deregulating.
deregulating vs privatizing
Privatizing changes who owns a business, while deregulating changes the rules it must follow.
Practice
The minister argued that ___ the railways would encourage competition and lower fares.
Choose one answer.
Deregulating means removing rules, which can encourage competition. Regulating would add control and work against that aim.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “deregulating”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.