English Explanatory Dictionary

rule

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A regulation, law, guideline.
  2. A regulating principle.
  3. The act of ruling; administration of law; government; empire; authority; control.
  4. A normal condition or state of affairs.
  5. Conduct; behaviour.
  6. An order regulating the practice of the courts, or an order made between parties to an action or a suit.
  7. A determinate method prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result.
  8. A ruler; device for measuring, a straightedge, a measure.
  9. A straight line (continuous mark, as made by a pen or the like), especially one lying across a paper as a guide for writing.
  10. A thin plate of brass or other metal, of the same height as the type, and used for printing lines, as between columns on the same page, or in tabular work.
verb
  1. To regulate, be in charge of, make decisions for, reign over.
  2. To excel.
  3. To decide judicially.
  4. To establish or settle by, or as by, a rule; to fix by universal or general consent, or by common practice.
  5. To mark (paper or the like) with rules (lines).
noun
  1. Revelry.
verb
  1. To revel.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. An unincorporated community in Carroll County, Arkansas, United States.
  3. A town in Haskell County, Texas, United States.

Pronunciation

/ɹuːl/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Pvanp7-rule.wav en-us-rule.ogg En-us-rule.oga /ɹɪu̯l/ /ɹʉl/

Word forms

rule rules ruling ruled no-table-tags glossary rulest ruledst ruleth

Etymology

From Middle English reule, rewle, rule, borrowed from Old French riule, reule, from Latin regula (“straight stick, bar, ruler, pattern”), from regō (“to keep straight, direct, govern, rule”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃réǵeti (“to straighten; right”), from the root *h₃reǵ-; see regent. Doublet of rail, regal, regula, and rigol.

Synonyms

rule rock bang devour eat eat and leave no crumbs excel go hard kick kick ass shine slap slay hold

Antonyms

stink suck

Related words

regulate regent regular principle test criterion rule of thumb saying restriction limitation limit constraint command prohibition instruction procedure routine convention norm algorithm word phrase sentence characteristic property attribute predicate formula rigid flexible legal constitutional strict general specific basic unwritten unspoken stupid silly clear confusing ambiguous unambiguous simple complicated familiar strange clear-cut straightforward adhere [⇒ thesaurus] to administer draft follow obey comply with violate rule maker regulator lawgiver

Derived words

180-degree rule 20-80 rule 3-3-3 rule 3.5% rule 3-revert rule 45-degree rule 4-to-1 rule 50/30/20 rule 50-30-20 rule 5-5-5 rule 621 rule 6-2-1 rule 68-95-99.7 rule 7-38-55 rule 7-7-7 rule 80-20 rule 8x8 rule Abegg's rule above the neck rule adverse interest rule Allen's rule Ampère's rule area rule as a rule as-if rule at-rule away goals rule baseball rule batter rule Bayes' rule Bergmann's rule best evidence rule blood rule board rule Born rule Born's rule boukólos rule bright-line rule Buckley rule Buckley's rule business rule Byrd rule cab-rank rule cardinal rule Carnot's rule chain rule Chatham House rule Chvorinov's rule composing rule Cope's rule cosine rule Cramer's rule Cromwell's rule crumbling skull rule cube rule direct rule divide and rule doomsday rule Dühring's rule Durham rule
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