Rule Meaning
/ɹuːl/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA regulation, law, guideline.
nounA regulating principle.
Sentence Examples
You broke the rule.
I make it a rule not to watch television after nine o'clock.
The chairman did not rule out the possibility of a disagreement.
CEFR Practice Quiz
In this classroom, the most important ____ is that all students must raise their hands before speaking.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new ____ required all employees to wear identification badges at all times.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"We profess to have embraced a religion which contains the most exact rules for the government of our lives."
— a. 1694, John Tillotson, Of The Obligations of Christians to a Holy Life:
"The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them[…]is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.[…]current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate[…]“stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled."
— 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
"There's little can be said in 't; 'Tis against the rule of nature."
— c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
"Obey them that have the rule over you."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 13:17:
"His stern rule the groaning land obeyed."
— 1725, Homer, “Book III”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
In this classroom, the most important ____ is that all students must raise their hands before speaking.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new ____ required all employees to wear identification badges at all times.