Dictionary

as a rule en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) In general; most often.
   • We go fishing every Sunday as a rule, but today the lake is frozen.
   • As a rule, single sentences should not be written or printed as paragraphs. An exception may be made of sentences of transition, indicating the relation between the parts of an exposition or argument. 1918, William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style:
   • As a rule men through economic conditions marry so late that they have already half exhausted their virile power before they marry. And when they marry young they are so ignorant and so self-centered that they imagine their wives must be satisfied when they are. 1922, Frank Harris, “X”, in My Life and Loves:
   • His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill;[…]. 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

Synonyms

chiefly · by and large · for the most part · usually

Translations (39)

da som regel (in general; most often) · ga de ghnáth (in general; most often) · fi säännönmukaisesti (in general; most often) · cmn 一般來說 /一般来说 (in general; most often) · el κατά κανόνα (in general; most often) · ja 概して (in general; most often) · de normalerweise (in general; most often) · cmn 通常 (in general; most often) · sv i regel (in general; most often) · fr en règle générale (in general; most often) · uk як пра́вило (in general; most often) · pt em regra (in general; most often) · es por regla general (in general; most often) · de in der Regel (in general; most often) · cmn 一般說來 /一般说来 (in general; most often) · ru как пра́вило (in general; most often) · it solitamente (in general; most often) · pl z zasady (in general; most often) · hy որպես օրենք (in general; most often) · pl z reguły (in general; most often) · sv som regel (in general; most often) · it di regola (in general; most often) · it generalmente (in general; most often) · fr normalement (in general; most often) · pt via de regra (in general; most often) · de gewöhnlich (in general; most often) · pt por via de regra (in general; most often) · nb som regel (in general; most often) · hy սովորաբար (in general; most often) · nn som regel (in general; most often) · ka როგორც წესი (in general; most often) · fi yleensä (in general; most often) · fr généralement (in general; most often) · ba ғәҙәттә (in general; most often) · uk звича́йно (in general; most often) · fi tavallisesti (in general; most often) · es normalmente (in general; most often) · ru обы́чно (in general; most often) · ja 原則として (in general; most often)