precept
a commandment or direction given as a rule of action or conduct.
an injunction as to moral conduct; maxim.
a procedural directive or rule, as for the performance of some technical operation.
Law.
a writ or warrant.
a written order issued pursuant to law, as a sheriff's order for an election.
Origin of precept
1Other words for precept
Words that may be confused with precept
- percept, precept
Words Nearby precept
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use precept in a sentence
In the United States, this is a core constitutional precept.
Rachel Pierce coined the phrase “Capitol Hill feminism” to describe how “women on the Hill adopted and adapted the rhetoric, ideological precepts, and policy goals of the women’s movement.”
How Patsy Takemoto Mink, the First Woman of Color in Congress, Helped Craft Title IX | Gwendolyn Mink | June 1, 2022 | TimeYet Butler pulls it off, by painting vivid portraits of the people who breathed life into those precepts.
So Many Actors Are ‘Method’ Now. A New Book Explains What That Means and Why It Matters | Stephanie Zacharek | February 1, 2022 | TimeThe Buddhist monastic community is divided into a fourfold system of novice monks, novice nuns, fully ordained monks and fully ordained nuns, each with a set of precepts, or vinaya, that they need to follow.
This study hopes to nail down the “hot zones” of consciousness—either the front or back of the brain—and how conscious thoughts or precepts are maintained over time.
What’s the Origin of Consciousness? Global Effort Puts Two Top Theories to the Test | Shelly Fan | June 2, 2021 | Singularity Hub
Ironically, this is the one precept on which liberals and conservatives agree.
You want to advocate for including a precept of Jewish law in civil or criminal law?
A Hebrew Democratic State for All Its Citizens | Bernard Avishai | October 3, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTWhere would a justice be more likely than in Israel to run across an arguable precept.
A Hebrew Democratic State for All Its Citizens | Bernard Avishai | October 3, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTMany think this a precept of natural law; why not of the Constitution?
Likewise our second precept remained beyond discussion; direct open contact with humanity.
The Extinction Parade: An Original Zombie Story by Max Brooks | Max Brooks | January 14, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd explicitly, in the same connection are the various observances included in it presented in precept.
The Ordinance of Covenanting | John CunninghamThe Ten Commandments are of perpetual obligation on all; and so is every moral precept included in them.
The Ordinance of Covenanting | John CunninghamA leader of men rather than a tactician or strategist, he played on the enthusiasm of his soldiers by example rather than precept.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonBoth the positive precept and the statutes of the decalogue unfolded what was designed as a covenant claim.
The Ordinance of Covenanting | John CunninghamIf he sometimes come across a precept which is perfectly clear and irrefutable, Donald does not scruple to ignore it.
Friend Mac Donald | Max O'Rell
British Dictionary definitions for precept
/ (ˈpriːsɛpt) /
a rule or principle for action
a guide or rule for morals; maxim
a direction, esp for a technical operation
law
a writ or warrant
a written order to a sheriff to arrange an election, the empanelling of a jury, etc
(in England) an order to collect money under a rate
Origin of precept
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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