rule
pronunciation
How to pronounce rule in British English:
UK [ruːl]
How to pronounce rule in American English:
US [ruːl]
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- Noun:
- a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior
- something regarded as a normative example
- prescribed guide for conduct or action
- (linguistics) a rule describing (or prescribing) a linguistic practice
- a basic generalization that is accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for reasoning or conduct
- a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the function of a complex system
- the duration of a monarch's or government's power
- dominance or power through legal authority
- directions that define the way a game or sport is to be conducted
- any one of a systematic body of regulations defining the way of life of members of a religious order
- (mathematics) a standard procedure for solving a class of mathematical problems
- measuring stick consisting of a strip of wood or metal or plastic with a straight edge that is used for drawing straight lines and measuring lengths
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- Verb:
- exercise authority over; as of nations
- decide with authority
- be larger in number, quantity, power, status or importance
- decide on and make a declaration about
- have an affinity with; of signs of the zodiac
- mark or draw with a ruler
- keep in check
Word Origin
- rule
- rule: [13] Rule is one of a largish family of English words that go back ultimately to Latin rēgula ‘straight stick, ruler, rule, pattern’ (whose close relatives rēx ‘king’ and regere ‘rule’ have also contributed royally to English vocabulary in the form of rector, regent, regiment, royal, etc). Derivatives have produced regular and regulate, while rēgula itself has given rail ‘bar’ and, via Vulgar Latin *regula and Old French reule, rule.=> rail, raj, rector, regal, regent, regular, regulate, royal
- rule (n.)
- c. 1200, "principle or maxim governing conduct, formula to which conduct must be conformed" from Old French riule, Norman reule "rule, custom, (religious) order" (in Modern French partially re-Latinized as règle), from Vulgar Latin *regula, from Latin regula "straight stick, bar, ruler;" figuratively "a pattern, a model," related to regere "to rule, straighten, guide" (see regal). Replaced Old English wealdan. Meaning "regulation governing play of a game, etc." is from 1690s. Phrase rule of thumb first attested 1690s. Rule of law "supremacy of impartial and well-defined laws to any individual's power" is from 1883. Meaning "strip used for making straight lines or measuring" is recorded from mid-14c. Typography sense is attested from 1680s.
- rule (v.)
- c. 1200, "to control, guide, direct," from Old French riuler "impose rule," from Latin regulare (see regulate). Legal sense "establish by decision" is recorded from early 15c. Meaning "mark with lines" is from 1590s. Meaning "to dominate, prevail" is from 1874. "Rule Brittania," patriotic song, is from 1740. Related: Ruled; ruling.
Antonym
Example
- 1. His rule had begun better .
- 2. Do creditors rule the world ?
- 3. His rule has undoubtedly ended .
- 4. Anything else is mob rule .
- 5. Tour groups can be exempted from the rule .