Control
Control noun - The ability to direct the course of something.
Usage example: firefighters keeping control of the blaze
Sway is a synonym for control in command topic. In some cases you can use "Sway" instead the word "Control" as a noun or a verb, when it comes to topics like power, advantage, rule, authority. archaic substitute
Sway
Sway noun - The right or means to command or control others.
Usage example: a time when Rome held sway over a vast empire that stretched from Britain to the Near East
Control is a synonym for sway in power topic. You can use "Control" instead the word "Sway" as a noun or a verb, if it concerns topics such as rule, advantage, govern, influence.
Mutual synonyms
How words are described
| emotional | emotional control | emotional sway |
| full | full control | full sway |
| hypnotic | hypnotic control | hypnotic sway |
| great | great control | great sway |
| Other adjectives: little, mental, political, less, greater, demonic. | ||
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
- This opens up the idea that Finn, having enough sway and control over his own fate, can choose to change the future by being presented the options.
Source: Analysis / Adventure Time -
This caused the action to sway back and forth before Russia finally gained control over the Black Sea... just before their revolution forced them out of the war in 1917.
Source: Useful Notes / World War I -
The council isn't a group of supernaturally or technologically advanced supermen—it's merely a handful of wealthy and connected politicians and businessmen using their power to control the media and sway public opinion, buy politicians, intimidate the police and murder whoever gets in their way.
Source: Series / Healer
Cite this Source
Sway and Control. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/control/sway
Control & Sway. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/control/sway>.
Sway or Control. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/control/sway.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "control" and "sway" have occurred on timeline