Ruler vs Authority - What's the difference?
ruler | authority |
A (usually rigid), flat, rectangular measuring or drawing device with graduations in units of measurement; a rule; a straightedge with markings; a measure.
A person who rules or governs; a person who exercises dominion or controlling power over others.
(label) The power to enforce rules or give orders.
* 1883 , (Howard Pyle), (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood)
(label) Persons in command; specifically, government.
*{{quote-book, year=1927, author=
, chapter=4, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (label) A person accepted as a source of reliable information on a subject.
* 1930 September 18, Albert Einstein, as quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1988) by Banesh Hoffman
As nouns the difference between ruler and authority
is that ruler is a (usually rigid), flat, rectangular measuring or drawing device with graduations in units of measurement; a rule; a straightedge with markings; a measure while authority is the power to enforce rules or give orders.ruler
English
(ruler)Noun
(en noun)Usage notes
In American English, the word "ruler" is often used specifically to refer to such a measuring device that is one foot (12 inches) long. Used in contrast with "yardstick" and "meter stick."Synonyms
* (measuring instrument) rule.Hyponyms
* duke * emperor * Highness * king * queen * grand duke * prince * princess * monarch * tyrant * See alsoauthority
English
Alternative forms
* authourity (obsolete)Noun
- But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.
F. E. Penny
Pulling the Strings, passage=The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities . A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.}}
Legal highs: A new prescription, passage=No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.}}
- To punish me for my contempt of authority', Fate has made me an ' authority myself.