Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A useful principle having wide application but not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable in every situation.
Wiktionary
- n. A general guideline, rather than a strict rule; an approximate measure or means of reckoning based on experience or common knowledge.
- n. attributive, usually hyphenated Approximated, guesstimated.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. any rude process or operation, like that of using the thumb as a rule in measuring; hence, judgment and practical experience as distinguished from scientific knowledge.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a rule or principle that provides guidance to appropriate behavior
Examples
“Using the rough rule of thumb that one gets about a tenth of whatever you put into the boiler out as distillate, 3,000 gallons means this operation was producing 300 gallons of alcohol at a time, which would add up to 600 gallons of 100-proof white lightning.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘rule of thumb’.
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probablyankita's list
Words are all I have to take your heart away
apartheid, techno-klutz, logorrheic, gordian knot, anodyne, odor of sanctity, finders keepers, foot-in-mouth dis..., dutch uncle, masquerade, smoke signals, furtive glance and 320 more...
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T:PSYCHO - misinterpretations
Cognitive and social biases. Primary source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
actor-observer bias, ambiguity effect, anchoring, attentional bias, availability cascade, availability heur..., backfire effect, bandwagon effect, base rate neglect..., belief bias, bias blind spot, change bias and 151 more...
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Public List: Body Metaphors
Phrases that use body parts metaphorically.
neck of the woods, bone of contention, mouth of a river, teeth of the storm, heart of the matter, foot of the bed, eye of the storm, dogleg hole, finger lakes, headwaters, foothills, knik arm and 212 more...
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Words to live by
adage, maxim, proverb, truism, saw, saying, aphorism, axiom, platitude, dogma, oracle, old wives' tale and 11 more...
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phrases
ironic detachment, get one's leg over, run wild, mad as a box of f..., keep your chin up, baker's dozen, fire a shot in anger, have a field day, go over with a fi..., as the crow flies, leap of faith, learn one's lesson and 224 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
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