Dictionary

golden rule en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) A fundamental rule or principle.
   • A new book called When Nothing Works shows which groups have enjoyed the biggest rise in take-home pay since the turn of the millennium. From Tony Blair to Boris Johnson, the authors discover one golden rule: the richer you are, the more money you’re given. 2023 August 17, Aditya Chakrabortty, “Can’t pay and they really do take it away: what happens when the bailiffs come knocking”, in The Guardian:
   • There is one golden rule of timetable work, that if a passenger train never runs to time it must be altered or other trains must be altered so that it can shake off its chronic unpunctuality. 1943 March and April, T. F. Cameron, “The Preparation of Timetables”, in Railway Magazine, page 75:
   • Here's what we call our golden rule / Have faith in you and the things you do 1979, Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, “We Are Family”, performed by Sister Sledge:
   • It is all-important to remember that naturalists have no golden rule by which to distinguish species and varieties; […] 1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “On the Imperfection of the Geological Record”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 296–297:
2. The principle that one should treat other people in the manner in which one would want to be treated by them.
   • "Mr. Francis seems to understand the fundamental principle of all moral accounting, the great ethic rule of three. Let A do to B, as he would have B do to him; the product will give the rule of conduct required." My father smiled at this reduction of the golden rule to arithmetical form. 1818, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 2, in Rob Roy:
3. (England, Wales, idiomatic) A method of statutory interpretation, whereby a judge will deviate from a literal interpretation of the law to the extent necessary to circumvent obvious absurdities or (sometimes) conclusions repugnant to public policy.

Forms

Coordinates

rule of the road · rule of thumb · silver rule · mischief rule · plain meaning rule · prime directive

Relateds

return the favor · one must give to get · love thy neighbor as thyself · give and take · reciprocity

Translations (22)

cmn 重要原則 /重要原则 (fundamental rule or principle) · ja 黄金律 (fundamental rule or principle) · ka ოქროს წესი (fundamental rule or principle) · es regla de oro (fundamental rule or principle) · fr règle d'or (fundamental rule or principle) · mk златно правило (principle that one should treat other people how one wants to be treated) · nl gulden regel (principle that one should treat other people how one wants to be treated) · tl ginintuang tuntunin (principle that one should treat other people how one wants to be treated) · fi kultainen sääntö (fundamental rule or principle) · ru золото́е пра́вило (principle that one should treat other people how one wants to be treated) · tl ginintuang tuntunin (fundamental rule or principle) · sk zlaté pravidlo (fundamental rule or principle) · cmn 恕道 (principle that one should treat other people how one wants to be treated) · de goldene Regel (principle that one should treat other people how one wants to be treated) · de goldene Regel (fundamental rule or principle) · fr règle d'or (principle that one should treat other people how one wants to be treated) · ru золото́е пра́вило (fundamental rule or principle) · da gylden regel (fundamental rule or principle) · fi keskeinen sääntö (fundamental rule or principle) · it regola d'oro (fundamental rule or principle) · fi kultainen sääntö (principle that one should treat other people how one wants to be treated) · da gylden regel (principle that one should treat other people how one wants to be treated)

wikidata: Q189573 · wikidata: Q5580050