as in deciding
to give an opinion about (something at issue or in dispute)
the coach ruled on the question of whether an off-campus bar fight ought to disqualify someone from the team
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ruling (on)
Verb
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The rigidity of that system is one of the reasons Liu quit the sport at 16, before deciding to return, on her own terms, two years later.—
Alice Park,
Time,
22 Feb. 2026 -
But officials held off on deciding whether to open schools Monday for the time being.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
22 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Border Patrol agents briefly took custody of him on an immigration detainer before determining he shouldn’t be deported and, later that night, dropped him at a closed coffee house alone in near freezing temperatures.—
Alisha Ebrahimji,
CNN Money,
27 Feb. 2026
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Although the Texas Senate seat has been been reliably red for decades, the Republican infighting has also centered on determining who is best suited to take on the Democratic ticket.—
Emily Chang,
ABC News,
27 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Across neighborhoods in San Francisco, Larkspur, the Tahoe basin and beyond, the loss is settling in — at dinner tables, in school drop-offs and along a mountainside waiting for the weather to shift.—
Julia Prodis Sulek,
Mercury News,
21 Feb. 2026
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Robert Zubrin, who has thought more about settling Mars than perhaps anyone alive today, thinks that Martian children would have to work a lot more than most kids do on Earth these days.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Leiomy is one of the most prominent ballroom faces worldwide, especially after judging the HBO Max competition show Legendary.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
24 Feb. 2026
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Megan is clearly loving the color, and judging by all the heart-eye emojis in her Instagram comments, the rest of the world is too!—
Kara Nesvig,
Allure,
23 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Ruling (on).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ruling%20%28on%29. Accessed 28 Feb. 2026.
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