precept
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin praeceptum, form of praecipiō (“to teach”), from Latin prae (“pre-”) + capiō (“take”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈpɹiːsɛpt/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -iːsɛpt
Noun
precept (plural precepts)
- A rule or principle, especially one governing personal conduct.
- Precept guides, but example draws.
- 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:
- By Heav’ns, ſuch Virtues, join’d with ſuch Succeſs,
Diſtract my very Soul: Our Father’s Fortune
Wou’d almoſt tempt us to renounce his Precepts.
- 1891, Susan Hale, Mexico (The Story of the Nations), volume 27, London: T. Fisher Unwin, page 80:
- He found a people in the extreme of barbarism living in caves, feeding upon the bloody flesh of animals they killed in hunting; he taught them many things, so that by his example, and for generations after he left them by his precepts, they advanced to high civilization.
- 2006, Theodore Dalrymple, The Gift of Language:
- I need hardly point out that Pinker doesn't really believe anything of what he writes, at least if example is stronger evidence of belief than precept.
- (law) A written command, especially a demand for payment.
- (UK) An order issued by one local authority to another specifying the rate of tax to be charged on its behalf.
- A rate or tax set by a precept.
- A rate or tax set by a precept.
Translations
rule or principle governing personal conduct
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Verb
precept (third-person singular simple present precepts, present participle precepting, simple past and past participle precepted)
- (intransitive, chiefly US, medicine) To act as a preceptor; to teach a physician-in-training by supervising their clinical practice.
- (transitive, obsolete) To teach (something) by precepts.
- 1603 (date written), [Francis] Bacon, “Valerius Terminus: Of the Interpretation of Nature; with the Annotations of Hermes Stella. Chapter XI. The Chapter Immediately Following the Inventary; Being the 11th in Order, a Part thereof.”, in Robert Stephens, compiler, edited by [John Lockyer], Letters and Remains of the Lord Chancellor Bacon, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, published 1734, →OCLC, page 411:
- [T]he tvvo commended rules by him [Aristotle] ſet down, vvhereby the axioms of Sciences are precepted to be made convertible, and vvhich the latter men have not vvithout elegancy ſurnamed; the one the rule of truth, becauſe it preventeth deceipt; the other the rule of prudence, becauſe it freeth election, are the ſame thing in ſpeculation and affirmation, vvhich vve novv obſerve.
Further reading
- “precept, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Anagrams
Old Irish
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin praeceptum, form of praecipiō (“to teach”), from prae (“pre-”) + capiō (“take”).
Pronunciation
Noun
precept f (genitive precepte)
For quotations using this term, see Citations:precept.
Inflection
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
- H = triggers aspiration
- L = triggers lenition
- N = triggers nasalization
Mutation
Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.
Further reading
- Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “precept”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from French précepte, from Latin praeceptum.
Noun
precept n (plural precepte)
Declension
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