How to Use by the rules in a Sentence

by the rules

phrase

• Folks who play by the rules and keep the faith just can't seem to get ahead.
  — Sophie Clark, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 July 2025
• Could Justin, by the rules, have made a case to stay with the team?
  — Dalton Ross, EW.com, 10 Mar. 2023
• And a lot of these folks are people who had played by the rules of the game.
  — Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2023
• Who is affected by the rules now in place?
  — Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Mar. 2026
• There’s a strong incentive to play by the rules.
  — Lars Brandle, Billboard, 28 Nov. 2025
• Democrats play by the rules and are going to get slaughtered.
  — San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 July 2022
• Children must abide by the rules for keeping the elves at home.
  — Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 7 Nov. 2025
• Through it all, Weissman still doesn’t play by the rules.
  — Mike Sutter, San Antonio Express-News, 25 Feb. 2026
• They are just not convinced that playing by the rules will work.
  — Dr. Diane Hamilton, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025
• Playing by the rules hasn't gotten you far.
  — Usa Today, USA Today, 4 Feb. 2026
• Democrats are playing by the rules of a game that no longer exists.
  — Nic Cheeseman, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025
• Here’s what that looks like ⚖️ Bloomberg is playing by the rules.
  — Diego Lasarte, Quartz, 21 Apr. 2023
• One by the rules of it, and then two, just about what the following week looks like.
  — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 30 Jan. 2025
• The Europeans won by the rules, no doubt about it.
  — Ian O'Connor, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
• But that’s not really playing by the rules of the text.
  — Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2025
• And Aladdin, for all its desert emptiness, plays by the rules.
  — Vulture Editors, Vulture, 8 Apr. 2024
• Like any true style icon, Sharon Stone isn't playing by the rules.
  — Hannah Malach, InStyle, 8 Apr. 2026
• The Dolphins are playing by the rules.
  — Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 9 Apr. 2026
• Pushed to her breaking point, Harleen is tired of playing by the rules.
  — Todd Spangler, Variety, 12 Jan. 2023
• The tribe is currently still bound by the rules of the consent decree.
  — oregonlive, 26 June 2023
• Elephant shed light on the power of lo-fi and not playing by the rules of a studio.
  — Ron Hart, SPIN, 1 Apr. 2023
• Not playing by the rules of the rainbow isn’t just silliness for silliness’ sake.
  — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 21 June 2024
• Contractors that claim the credits but fail to abide by the rules face stiff fines and penalties.
  — Jonathan Weisman, New York Times, 10 Feb. 2023
• The truth is City teams are playing by the rules while some of their opponents aren’t.
  — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2024
• And there’s no guarantee that up-and-coming variants will play by the rules we’re used to.
  — Byerin Prater, Fortune Well, 29 Aug. 2023
• Some school board lawyers are confused by the rules, and and those arguing for access have few ways to fight back.
  — Elle Reeve, CNN, 6 Oct. 2023
• Capitalism thrives the most when everyone who works hard and plays by the rules has a fair shot.
  — Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill, 3 Feb. 2025
• The newcomers didn’t abide by the rules of the water, the locals grumbled.
  — Amy Qin Callaghan O’Hare, New York Times, 12 Nov. 2023
• Kiko Kostadinov’s Asics sneakers have never played by the rules.
  — Riley Jones, Footwear News, 19 Feb. 2026
• That was by design, although perhaps not by the rules initially.
  — Matt Le Cren, Chicago Tribune, 20 Jan. 2025