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Dictate vs Rule - What's the difference?

dictate | rule | Synonyms |

As nouns the difference between dictate and rule

is that dictate is an order or command while rule is a regulation, law, guideline.

As verbs the difference between dictate and rule

is that dictate is to order, command, control while rule is to regulate, be in charge of, make decisions for, reign over.

dictate

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • An order or command.
  • I must obey the dictates of my conscience.

    Verb

    (dictat)
  • To order, command, control.
  • * 2001 , Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography , Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0-521-78512-X), page 409,
  • Trademark Owners will nevertheless try to dictate how their marks are to be represented, but dictionary publishers with spine can resist such pressure.
  • To speak in order for someone to write down the words.
  • She is dictating a letter to a stenographer.
    The French teacher dictated a passage from Victor Hugo.

    Derived terms

    * dictation * dictator

    rule

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A regulation, law, guideline.
  • * Tillotson
  • We profess to have embraced a religion which contains the most exact rules for the government of our lives.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them
  • A ruler; device for measuring, a straightedge, a measure.
  • * South
  • A judicious artist will use his eye, but he will trust only to his rule .
  • A straight line , especially one lying across a paper as a guide for writing.
  • A regulating principle.
  • * c. 1604, William Shakespeare, All's well that ends well , Act I, scene I:
  • There's little can be said in 't; 'Tis against the rule of nature.
  • The act of ruling; administration of law; government; empire; authority; control.
  • * Bible, Hebrews xiii. 17
  • Obey them that have the rule over you.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • His stern rule the groaning land obeyed.
  • A normal condition or state of affairs.
  • My rule is to rise at six o'clock.
  • (obsolete) Conduct; behaviour.
  • * Shakespeare
  • This uncivil rule ; she shall know of it.
  • (legal) An order regulating the practice of the courts, or an order made between parties to an action or a suit.
  • (Wharton)
  • (math) A determinate method prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result.
  • a rule for extracting the cube root
  • (printing, dated) 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.
  • Derived terms

    * exception that proves the rule * golden rule * rule of action * rule of law * rule of thumb * silver rule * slide rule * there is an exception to every rule

    Verb

    (rul)
  • To regulate, be in charge of, make decisions for, reign over.
  • * , chapter=13
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}
  • (slang) To excel.
  • To mark (paper or the like) with (lines).
  • To decide judicially.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author= Karen McVeigh
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=10, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= US rules human genes can't be patented , passage=The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.}}
  • To establish or settle by, or as by, a rule; to fix by universal or general consent, or by common practice.
  • * Atterbury
  • That's a ruled case with the schoolmen.

    Synonyms

    * (to excel) rock (also slang)

    Antonyms

    * (to excel) suck (vulgar slang)

    Derived terms

    * Rule Britannia * rule on * rule out * rule the roost * the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----