precept

[ pree-sept ]

noun

1. a commandment or direction given as a rule of action or conduct.

   Synonyms: prescription, instruction, guide, order, directive

2. an injunction as to moral conduct; maxim.
3. a procedural directive or rule, as for the performance of some technical operation.
4. Law.
   1. a writ or warrant.
   2. a written order issued pursuant to law, as a sheriff's order for an election.

precept

/ ˈpriːsɛpt /

noun

1. a rule or principle for action
2. a guide or rule for morals; maxim
3. a direction, esp for a technical operation
4. law
   1. a writ or warrant
   2. a written order to a sheriff to arrange an election, the empanelling of a jury, etc
   3. (in England) an order to collect money under a rate

Word History and Origins

Origin of precept¹

1300–50; Middle English < Latin praeceptum piece of advice, rule, noun use of neuter of praeceptus, past participle of praecipere to direct, foresee, literally, to take beforehand, equivalent to prae- pre- + -cep-, combining form of capere to take + -tus past participle suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of precept¹

C14: from Latin praeceptum maxim, injunction, from praecipere to admonish, from prae before + capere to take

Example Sentences

In the United States, this is a core constitutional precept.

From Time

Rachel Pierce coined the phrase “Capitol Hill feminism” to describe how “women on the Hill adopted and adapted the rhetoric, ideological precepts, and policy goals of the women’s movement.”

From Time

Yet Butler pulls it off, by painting vivid portraits of the people who breathed life into those precepts.

From Time

The Buddhist monastic community is divided into a fourfold system of novice monks, novice nuns, fully ordained monks and fully ordained nuns, each with a set of precepts, or vinaya, that they need to follow.

From No Straight News

This study hopes to nail down the “hot zones” of consciousness—either the front or back of the brain—and how conscious thoughts or precepts are maintained over time.

From Singularity Hub 

Ironically, this is the one precept on which liberals and conservatives agree.

From The Daily Beast

You want to advocate for including a precept of Jewish law in civil or criminal law?

From The Daily Beast

Where would a justice be more likely than in Israel to run across an arguable precept.

From The Daily Beast

Many think this a precept of natural law; why not of the Constitution?

From The Daily Beast

Likewise our second precept remained beyond discussion; direct open contact with humanity.

From The Daily Beast

And explicitly, in the same connection are the various observances included in it presented in precept.

From Project Gutenberg

The Ten Commandments are of perpetual obligation on all; and so is every moral precept included in them.

From Project Gutenberg

A leader of men rather than a tactician or strategist, he played on the enthusiasm of his soldiers by example rather than precept.

From Project Gutenberg

Both the positive precept and the statutes of the decalogue unfolded what was designed as a covenant claim.

From Project Gutenberg

If he sometimes come across a precept which is perfectly clear and irrefutable, Donald does not scruple to ignore it.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• axiom
• canon
• commandment
• doctrine
• dogma
• edict
• tenet