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Rule vs Figure - What's the difference?

rule | figure |

As verbs the difference between rule and figure

is that rule is while figure is .

As an adjective figure is

figurative.

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 ----

    figure

    English

    (wikipedia figure)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A drawing or diagram conveying information.
  • *
  • The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modelling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body.
  • a figure''' in bronze; a '''figure cut in marble
  • * Shakespeare
  • a coin that bears the figure of an angel
  • A person or thing representing a certain consciousness.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures .}}
  • The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person.
  • He cut a sorry figure standing there in the rain.
  • * Dryden
  • I made some figure there.
  • * Blackstone
  • gentlemen of the best figure in the county
  • (obsolete) Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendour; show.
  • * Law
  • that he may live in figure and indulgence
  • A human figure, which dress or corset must fit to; the shape of a human body.
  • *
  • A numeral.
  • A number.
  • *
  • A shape.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Flowers have all exquisite figures .
  • *
  • A visible pattern as in wood or cloth.
  • The muslin was of a pretty figure .
  • A dance figure, a complex dance move(w).
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness,
  • A figure of speech.
  • * Macaulay
  • to represent the imagination under the figure of a wing
  • (logic) The form of a syllogism with respect to the relative position of the middle term.
  • (astrology) A horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses.
  • (Johnson)
  • (music) Any short succession of notes, either as melody or as a group of chords, which produce a single complete and distinct impression.
  • (Grove)
  • (music) A form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a strain or passage; a motif; a florid embellishment.
  • Derived terms

    (Terms derived from the noun) * academy figure * action figure * authority figure * big figure * dark figure * cut a figure * father figure * figure dash * figure eight * figurehead * figureless * figure loom * figure of eight * figure of merit * figure of speech * figure poem * figure skating * four-figure * hate figure * hourglass figure * lay figure * Lissajous figure * mother figure * musical figure * plane figure * public figure * significant figure * snow figure * stick figure * terminal figure * text figure * three-figure * two-figure

    Verb

    (mainly US)
  • To solve a mathematical problem.
  • To come to understand.
  • I can't figure if he's telling the truth or lying.
  • To be reasonable.
  • To enter, be a part of.
  • (obsolete) To represent by a figure, as to form or mould; to make an image of, either palpable or ideal; also, to fashion into a determinate form; to shape.
  • * Prior
  • If love, alas! be pain I bear, / No thought can figure , and no tongue declare.
  • To embellish with design; to adorn with figures.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The vaulty top of heaven / Figured quite o'er with burning meteors.
  • (obsolete) To indicate by numerals.
  • * Dryden
  • As through a crystal glass the figured hours are seen.
  • To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize.
  • * Shakespeare
  • whose white vestments figure innocence
  • (obsolete) To prefigure; to foreshow.
  • * Shakespeare
  • In this the heaven figures some event.
  • (music) To write over or under the bass, as figures or other characters, in order to indicate the accompanying chords.
  • (music) To embellish.
  • Derived terms

    * go figure * prefigure * figure out (US)

    Statistics

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