as in principles
formal
a statement by an authority of how people should behave
the moral precepts of a religion
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Recent Examples of precepts
Arora kept trying things, pressing one finer point of the law or another, running up against certain universal precepts that stood outside the jurisdiction of the superior court.
—
Thomas Lake, AJC.com, 4 June 2026
Shi was also alleged to have committed criminal offenses and violated Buddhist precepts by maintaining relationships with multiple women over a long period and fathering at least one child, according to a notice from the temple’s authority on its WeChat account at that time.
—Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2026
On May 6, 2026, a historic ceremony was held where a robot received the Buddhist precepts from a monk.
—Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 6 May 2026
Yet, their rise did contribute to the prevention of the power of a single individual who would thwart the precepts of the Constitution.
—Richard Davis, The Orlando Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2026
But Felder also feared that the attack would provoke unprecedented violence against Palestinians, and believed that being Jewish required adhering to certain moral precepts.
—Eyal Press, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026
Accordingly, the warring factions have competed to depict themselves as the true embodiment of MAGA and paint their rivals as undermining Trump or deviating from his precepts.
—Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
Martin has criticized the Ten Commandments mandate as not just a violation of American precepts but religious ones as well.
—Christopher Schelin, The Conversation, 24 Feb. 2026
Kutcher’s character—the richest man in the world, who calls himself The Corporation—has, in defiance of all ethical, legal, and medical precepts, developed The Beauty.
—Judy Berman, Time, 21 Jan. 2026
Thomas Lake, AJC.com, 4 June 2026
Shi was also alleged to have committed criminal offenses and violated Buddhist precepts by maintaining relationships with multiple women over a long period and fathering at least one child, according to a notice from the temple’s authority on its WeChat account at that time.
—Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2026
On May 6, 2026, a historic ceremony was held where a robot received the Buddhist precepts from a monk.
—Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 6 May 2026
Yet, their rise did contribute to the prevention of the power of a single individual who would thwart the precepts of the Constitution.
—Richard Davis, The Orlando Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2026
But Felder also feared that the attack would provoke unprecedented violence against Palestinians, and believed that being Jewish required adhering to certain moral precepts.
—Eyal Press, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026
Accordingly, the warring factions have competed to depict themselves as the true embodiment of MAGA and paint their rivals as undermining Trump or deviating from his precepts.
—Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
Martin has criticized the Ten Commandments mandate as not just a violation of American precepts but religious ones as well.
—Christopher Schelin, The Conversation, 24 Feb. 2026
Kutcher’s character—the richest man in the world, who calls himself The Corporation—has, in defiance of all ethical, legal, and medical precepts, developed The Beauty.
—Judy Berman, Time, 21 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for precepts
Noun
-
Hot and humid conditions are expected to push afternoon temperatures into the upper 80s and lower 90s, with heat index values climbing to the 96-102 range.—
Paula Wethington,
CBS News,
10 June 2026
-
Temperatures are expected to reach around 88 degrees, with heat index values climbing to the mid-90s, according to the weather service.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
10 June 2026
Noun
-
That’s because your personal circumstance and finances (such as other sources of retirement income and your tax bracket) can be complex and so are the Social Security rules governing them.—
Jeanne Sahadi,
CNN Money,
14 June 2026
-
Guzzetti said skydiving companies are governed by the same rules any private plane owner has to follow and not the more stringent rules that charter flight operators and airlines adhere to.—
Kristin M. Hall,
Los Angeles Times,
14 June 2026
Noun
-
The city’s business license enforcement codes specifically state that the Police Department is responsible for enforcement, which includes reporting violations to the city, making arrests, and conducting business inspections to ensure compliance.—
Ben Wheeler,
Kansas City Star,
10 June 2026
-
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory supplies numerical codes that map plasma behavior.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
10 June 2026
Noun
-
Researchers already had reason to believe that the pigeonhole principle can’t be proved from the axioms of PV1 alone, so Li, Chen and Oliveira’s results imply that their other equivalent theorems are also likely unprovable in PV1.—
Ben Brubaker,
Quanta Magazine,
1 Dec. 2025
-
The team point, for example, to mathematician Kurt Gödel’s first incompleteness theorem, which states that no consistent system of axioms that can be listed by an algorithm that will prove all the truths about the arithmetic of the natural numbers.—
Ian Randall,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
By now, decades into Americans’ pursuit of cooking as a mainstream hobby, certain maxims have become near-law among food lovers.—
Emily Heil,
Washington Post,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Both maxims are about the stories people tell themselves.—
Julie Beck,
The Atlantic,
2 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
In the absence of broad federal legislation, some states have passed laws to address potentially risky and harmful uses of AI, such as the creation of misleading deepfakes and discrimination in hiring.—
Samantha Waldenberg,
CNN Money,
12 Dec. 2025
-
According to the order, the recommendations will not affect state AI laws related to child safety protections, data center infrastructure, state procurement of AI and other topics that have not yet been established.—
Jared Perlo,
NBC news,
11 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Precepts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/precepts. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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