Behave
Behave verb - To manage the actions of (oneself) in a particular way.
Usage example: if the children behave themselves properly and sit quietly during church, they'll get their ice cream afterward
Control and behave are semantically related. in properly topic. In some cases you can use "Control" instead a verb "Behave".
Common collocations
| time | behave time | control time |
| way | behave way | control way |
| characters | behave characters | control characters |
| anyone | behave anyone | control anyone |
| Other words: elements. | ||
Both words in one sentence
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And in this game, the slot machines behave like real ones—in other words, your control over the outcome approaches zero.
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In Sleeper, Woody Allen's character is captured by the Shadow Dictator government and reprogrammed into an obedient citizen — we see an electronic mind-control experiment where he's made to behave like a contestant in the Miss America pageant.
Source: Brainwashed -
Damaged craft can behave even more erratically as the AI fights to control the craft.
Source: Video Game / From The Depths
Cite this Source
Control and Behave. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 15, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/behave/control
Behave & Control. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/behave/control>.
Control or Behave. 2016. Accessed August 15, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/behave/control.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "behave" and "control" have occurred on timeline