A regulation means a rule created by a government agency or organization to control how something is done. When the Food and Drug Administration creates regulations about food safety, it's setting official rules that food companies must follow. When your school creates regulations about playground equipment, it's establishing guidelines to keep students safe.

Regulations differ from regular laws in an important way: laws are passed by legislatures like Congress, while regulations are created by agencies that specialize in specific areas. Congress might pass a law saying “keep our water clean,” then the Environmental Protection Agency writes detailed regulations explaining exactly how much pollution factories can release.

The word also means the act of controlling or managing something. Temperature regulation in your body keeps you at about 98.6 degrees. Traffic regulation keeps cars moving safely through intersections.

Sometimes people complain about overregulation, meaning too many rules that make simple things complicated. Other times people call for stricter regulation when they think current rules aren't protecting people enough. Finding the right balance between helpful rules and unnecessary restrictions creates ongoing debates in communities and governments.

The adjective form is regulatory: a regulatory agency is one that creates and enforces regulations.