Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A rule or principle prescribing a particular course of action or conduct.
- n. Law An authorized direction or order; a writ.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A commandment or direction given as a rule of action; teaching; instruction; especially, an injunction as to moral conduct; a rule of conduct; a maxim.
- n. In law: A command or mandate in writing issued by a court or judge, as for bringing a person, record, or other matter before him, or for the collection of costs, etc., or for summoning jurors, etc.
- n. In English law, a command or mandate in writing issued pursuant to law by an administrative officer: as, a sheriff's precept for a municipal election.
- To teach; lead by precept.
- To order by rule; ordain.
Wiktionary
- n. A rule or principle, especially one governing personal conduct.
- n. law A written command, especially a demand for payment.
- v. obsolete To teach by precepts.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any commandment, instruction, or order intended as an authoritative rule of action; esp., a command respecting moral conduct; an injunction; a rule.
- n. (Law) A command in writing; a species of writ or process.
- v. obsolete To teach by precepts.
WordNet 3.0
- n. rule of personal conduct
- n. a doctrine that is taught
Etymologies
- From Vulgar Latin praeceptum, form of praecipere ("to teach"), from Latin prae ("pre-") + capere ("take"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin praeceptum, from neuter past participle of praecipere, to advise, teach : prae-, pre- + capere, to take; see kap- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“One cannot decide that this Church precept is false this one true, that that one is empty and useless and that one is meaningful.”
“In ecclesiastical jurisprudence, the word precept is used:”
“The precept is very weighty. seemeth to have -- or, "thinketh that he hath" (Margin).”
“A positive precept is right because it is commanded, and ceases to be obligatory when abrogated; a moral precept is commanded eternally, because it is eternally right.”
“Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary -- This precept is frequently repeated along with the prohibition of idolatrous practices, and here it stands closely connected with the superstitions forbidden in the previous verses.”
“The doctor was sent for, who, very sick himself, and holding by the table to keep himself from falling, told her, without looking at her very particularly, that there was nothing the matter, only to keep yourself "quite quiet and still;" and the ship rolling at the same moment, he pitched head-foremost out of the cabin, showing practically how much easier precept is than example.”
Life in Mexico, During a Residence of Two Years in That Country
“Now the precept is directed to heaven and earth, and all the hosts of both, as royal precepts commonly run -- To all officers, civil and military.”
“The precept is quoted from Prov.xxv. 21, 22; so that, high as it seems to be, the Old Testament was not a stranger to it.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation)
“The precept is threefold, ask, seek, knock; there is precept upon precept; but the promise is sixfold, line upon line, for our encouragement; because a firm belief of the promise would make us cheerful and constant in our obedience.”
“And this entitles the precept, _Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself_, to the pre-eminence given to it, and is a justification of the apostle's assertion, that all other commandments are comprehended in it, whatever cautions and restrictions {28} there are, which might require to be considered, if we were to state particularly and at length what is virtue and right behaviour in mankind.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘precept’.
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EN - fine scholarly language
exhort, accretion, twenty-nine, atrophy, additive, brilliantly, interreligious, empiricism, pathologic, limitless, half-century, vigilant and 488 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, Vespasian, languid, studied, judgment, dwindle, artifice, contribute, observe, sonorous, gladiator and 264 more...
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501
Classic
bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august and 401 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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The New York Times
Random articles read
precept, incohate, wade, impoverished, swath, defunct, tinge, sidle, boisterous, fraught, new your times, ungainly
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Reading Vocab
ulterior, warrant, syllogism, precious, impiety, maroon, aigrette, batiste, topsy-turvy ago, midnight crush, cantankerous, slovenly and 180 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
anacoluthon, defenestration, hypnopomp, hypnagogue, idioglossia, panopticon, tatterdemalion, abalone, caltrop, miasma, paroxysm, smalt and 475 more...
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JesusIsLord's Words
debauchery, plethora, wiki, numinous, wormwood, scribe, gelded, mithridate, orthogonal, jaculiferous, jaculate, jactitation and 415 more...
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Good for Academics
Gahh!! Study!
supplant, usurp, finagle, winnow, draconian, abut, collude, swindle, objectify, incite, decadent, obstinate and 327 more...
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What Do You Mean $
ahh these hurt.....
hermit, prone, maxim, guise, solvenly, lurid, lax, amiable, irate, cloister, mediate, nettle and 100 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for precept.
exquisite "Example is more powerful than precept."
Aesop (620 BC-560 BC) Feb 1, 2007