A general command or injunction; a rule for action or conduct, esp. a rule for moral conduct, a maxim; spec. a divine command.

A formula, recipe, prescription. Obsolete.

A general law or rule adopted or professed as a guide to action; a settled ground or basis of conduct or practice; a fundamental motive or reason…

= tenet, n.

A principle or rule of law or conduct; an axiom. Cf. maxim, n.1 Obsolete.

A rule or principle of conduct. Also: a pithily expressed precept of morality or prudence (spec. occurring in Old English verse); such a precept as…

A principal point or article. rare.

A doctrine, dogma, principle, or opinion, in religion, philosophy, politics, or the like, held by a school, sect, party, or person.

Law. An elementary principle or maxim.

A set form of words in which something is defined, stated, or declared, or which is prescribed by authority or custom to be used on some…

A rule or aphorism in Sanskrit literature; (also) a set of such rules concerning grammar or Hindu law or philosophy, expressed with maximum brevity.

A rule to be observed as strictly as if it were an addition to the ten commandments (cf. commandment, n. 2d and John xiii. 34). gen.

A higher-order rule or convention determining the application of a set of rules, esp. in a linguistic system.