Meanings
- idiomaticIn general; most often.
We go fishing every Sunday as a rule, but today the lake is frozen.
3 more examples
His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill;[…].
1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLCAs a rule, single sentences should not be written or printed as paragraphs. An exception may be made of sentences of transition, indicating the relation between the parts of an exposition or argument.
1918, William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of StyleAs a rule men through economic conditions marry so late that they have already half exhausted their virile power before they marry. And when they marry young they are so ignorant and so self-centered that they imagine their wives must be satisfied when they are.
1922, Frank Harris, “X”, in My Life and LovesSynonyms: by and large, chiefly, for the most part, usually
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbIn general; most often.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 一般說來 /一般说来, 一般來說 /一般来说
- 一般說來 /一般说来 (yībān shuō lái)in general; most often
- 一般來說 /一般来说 (yībān lái shuō)in general; most often
- 通常 (tōngcháng)in general; most often
Danish som regel
- som regelin general; most often
Finnish yleensä, tavallisesti
- yleensäin general; most often
- tavallisestiin general; most often
- säännönmukaisestiin general; most often
French généralement, normalement
- généralementin general; most often
- normalementin general; most often
- en règle généralein general; most often
German in der Regel, normalerweise
- in der Regelin general; most often
- normalerweisein general; most often
- gewöhnlichin general; most often
Greek κατά κανόνα
- κατά κανόνα (katá kanóna)in general; most often
Irish de ghnáth
- de ghnáthin general; most often
Italian di regola, solitamente
- di regolain general; most often
- solitamentein general; most often
- generalmentein general; most often
Japanese 概して, 原則として
- 概して (gai-shite)in general; most often
- 原則として (gensoku-to shite)in general; most often
Norwegian Bokmål som regel
- som regelin general; most often
Polish z reguły, z zasady
- z regułyin general; most often
- z zasadyin general; most often
Portuguese em regra, por via de regra
- em regrain general; most often
- por via de regrain general; most often
- via de regrain general; most often
Russian как пра́вило, обы́чно
- как пра́вило (kak právilo)in general; most often
- обы́чно (obýčno)in general; most often
Spanish normalmente, por regla general
- normalmentein general; most often
- por regla generalin general; most often
Swedish som regel, i regel
- som regelin general; most often
- i regelin general; most often
Ukrainian як пра́вило, звича́йно
- як пра́вило (jak právylo)in general; most often
- звича́йно (zvyčájno)in general; most often
Cite this entry
as a rule. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20a%20rule
“as a rule.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20a%20rule. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “as a rule,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20a%20rule.
Source: as a rule on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.