(~s, ruling, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
Rules are instructions that tell you what you are allowed to do and what you are not allowed to do.
...a thirty-two-page pamphlet explaining the ~s of basketball...
Strictly speaking, this was against the ~s.
N-COUNT: oft N of n, N num
2.
A ~ is a statement telling people what they should do in order to achieve success or a benefit of some kind.
An important ~ is to drink plenty of water during any flight...
N-COUNT: oft N for/of n
3.
The ~s of something such as a language or a science are statements that describe the way that things usually happen in a particular situation.
...according to the ~s of quantum theory.
N-COUNT: oft N of n
4.
If something is the ~, it is the normal state of affairs.
However, for many Americans today, weekend work has unfortunately become the ~ rather than the exception.
N-SING: the N
5.
The person or group that ~s a country controls its affairs.
For four centuries, he says, foreigners have ~d Angola...
He ~d for eight months.
...the long line of feudal lords who had ~d over this land.
VERB: V n, V, V over n
•
Rule is also a noun.
...demands for an end to one-party ~.
N-UNCOUNT: usu supp N
6.
If something ~s your life, it influences or restricts your actions in a way that is not good for you.
Scientists have always been aware of how fear can ~ our lives and make us ill.
VERB: V n
7.
When someone in authority ~s that something is true or should happen, they state that they have officially decided that it is true or should happen. (FORMAL)
The court ~d that laws passed by the assembly remained valid...
The Israeli court has not yet ~d on the case...
A provincial magistrates’ court last week ~d it unconstitutional...
The committee ~d against all-night opening mainly on safety grounds.
= pronounce
VERB: V that, V on n, V n adj/n, V against n, also V in favour of n
8.
If you ~ a straight line, you draw it using something that has a straight edge.
...a ~d grid of horizontal and vertical lines.
VERB: V-ed, also V n
9.
see also golden ~ , ground ~ , ruling , slide ~
10.
If you say that something happens as a ~, you mean that it usually happens.
As a ~, however, such attacks have been aimed at causing damage rather than taking life.
= generally, usually
PHRASE: PHR with cl
11.
If someone in authority bends the ~s or stretches the ~s, they do something even though it is against the ~s.
There is a particular urgency in this case, and it would help if you could bend the ~s.
PHRASE: V inflects
12.
A ~ of thumb is a ~ or principle that you follow which is not based on exact calculations, but rather on experience.
A good ~ of thumb is that a broker must generate sales of ten times his salary if his employer is to make a profit...
PHRASE: ~ inflects
13.
If workers work to ~, they protest by working according to the ~s of their job without doing any extra work or taking any new decisions. (BRIT)
Nurses are continuing to work to ~.
PHRASE: V inflects