Noun
He has people working for him, but he has a tight rein on every part of the process.
after the president resigned, the vice president stepped in and took the reins of the company Verb
try to rein in your spending, so you have some money left for saving
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
June 12, 2024: Yann Demange exits as director, Eric Pearson joins as screenwriter
Nearly two years after taking the directing reins, Demange quietly departed the production, which was reported weeks later.—Adam B. Vary, Variety, 15 June 2024 There were plenty of fingers pointed at the FAA for failing to oversee Boeing with a tighter rein.—Whizy Kim, Vox, 3 May 2024
Verb
For the first six years of the project, things moved along only fitfully, and so in 1972, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena Calif., which was overseeing the mission, turned the Voyager reins over to Stone, then a 36-year-old physicist.—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 12 June 2024 Next year, the irrepressible flutist, Claire Chase, takes the music director reins.—Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for rein
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rein.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English reine, from Anglo-French resne, reine, from Vulgar Latin *retina, from Latin retinēre to restrain — more at retain
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