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
Rival Dillard’s, a primarily Southern and Southwestern chain with 290 stores, has also seen modest growth by following those basic retail precepts.
—
Phil Wahba, Fortune, 7 Nov. 2025
Change is inevitable, but the rapid destruction of the basic precepts upon which our government was formed is beyond dangerous.
—U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Sep. 2025
Phil Wahba, Fortune, 7 Nov. 2025
Change is inevitable, but the rapid destruction of the basic precepts upon which our government was formed is beyond dangerous.
—U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for precepts
Noun
-
For Florida, Sykes argued, even a flat market signals stability after years of breakneck appreciation—especially in Palm Beach, where home values have jumped as much as 200% in the past few years.—
Dave Smith,
Fortune,
8 Nov. 2025
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Your money matters and personal values are in the spotlight of this retrograde, Scorpio.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
8 Nov. 2025
Noun
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So there's really no choice but for the four major conference commissioners to compile a set of rules and guidelines that make at least a marginal bit of sense.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
8 Jan. 2026
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Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck, a witness called by Democrats, said the nondisclosure process followed then-existing DOJ guidelines and that Congress only revised notification rules after a 2024 inspector general report.—
Kaelan Deese,
The Washington Examiner,
8 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Reza Pahlavi himself has distributed messages calling for defections among the armed forces, and coordinated protests through QR codes.—
Brady Knox,
The Washington Examiner,
8 Jan. 2026
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Consumers, meanwhile, are being asked to absorb the costs of aggressive climate mandates, including electric vehicle requirements and restrictive building codes, while state agencies have failed to comply with their own mandates.—
Tom J. Pyle,
Boston Herald,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
His preference would be to find simpler axioms for quantum mechanics — intuitive principles that would let theorists re-derive the theory in a new form altogether.—
Daniel Garisto,
Quanta Magazine,
7 Nov. 2025
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In other words, as Cleveland tore through the league last season, the players responded to most of the milestones reached with a collective shrug and worn axioms about nothing mattering until the playoffs.—
Joe Vardon,
New York Times,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The rest of the book is spent expanding on these maxims one by one, in her colloquial, easy style, with references to classic psychological studies, her own research and her own experiences.—
Lamorna Ash,
The Dial,
25 Nov. 2025
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Everything bops breezily along, stopping occasionally to have Dek growl maxims about strength through domination, and observe a decapitation or two.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
The cemetery of good but dead laws is infinite; the main thing is that social forces exist.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Nov. 2025
-
On the one hand, consumer protection laws are a hallmark of the region.—
Andrew Nusca,
Fortune,
10 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Precepts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/precepts. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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