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Rule vs Test - What's the difference?

rule | test |

As a verb rule

is .

As a noun test is

.

rule

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A regulation, law, guideline.
  • * Tillotson
  • We profess to have embraced a religion which contains the most exact rules for the government of our lives.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them
  • A ruler; device for measuring, a straightedge, a measure.
  • * South
  • A judicious artist will use his eye, but he will trust only to his rule .
  • A straight line , especially one lying across a paper as a guide for writing.
  • A regulating principle.
  • * c. 1604, William Shakespeare, All's well that ends well , Act I, scene I:
  • There's little can be said in 't; 'Tis against the rule of nature.
  • The act of ruling; administration of law; government; empire; authority; control.
  • * Bible, Hebrews xiii. 17
  • Obey them that have the rule over you.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • His stern rule the groaning land obeyed.
  • A normal condition or state of affairs.
  • My rule is to rise at six o'clock.
  • (obsolete) Conduct; behaviour.
  • * Shakespeare
  • This uncivil rule ; she shall know of it.
  • (legal) An order regulating the practice of the courts, or an order made between parties to an action or a suit.
  • (Wharton)
  • (math) A determinate method prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result.
  • a rule for extracting the cube root
  • (printing, dated) A thin plate of brass or other metal, of the same height as the type, and used for printing lines, as between columns on the same page, or in tabular work.
  • Derived terms

    * exception that proves the rule * golden rule * rule of action * rule of law * rule of thumb * silver rule * slide rule * there is an exception to every rule

    Verb

    (rul)
  • To regulate, be in charge of, make decisions for, reign over.
  • * , chapter=13
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}
  • (slang) To excel.
  • To mark (paper or the like) with (lines).
  • To decide judicially.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author= Karen McVeigh
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=10, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= US rules human genes can't be patented , passage=The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.}}
  • To establish or settle by, or as by, a rule; to fix by universal or general consent, or by common practice.
  • * Atterbury
  • That's a ruled case with the schoolmen.

    Synonyms

    * (to excel) rock (also slang)

    Antonyms

    * (to excel) suck (vulgar slang)

    Derived terms

    * Rule Britannia * rule on * rule out * rule the roost * the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    test

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) ; see terra, thirst.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement.
  • A , trial.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
  • , author=Colin Allen , title=Do I See What You See? , volume=100, issue=2, page=168 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered in favor of animal mind reading, and although many scientists are skeptical, others assert that humans are not the only species capable of representing what others do and don’t perceive and know.}}
  • (academia) An examination, given often during the academic term.
  • A session in which a product or piece of equipment is examined under everyday or extreme conditions to evaluate its durability, etc.
  • A Test match.
  • (marine biology) The external calciferous shell, or endoskeleton, of an echinoderm, e.g. sand dollars]] and sea urchins.
  • (botany) Testa; seed coat.
  • Judgment; distinction; discrimination.
  • * Dryden
  • Who would excel, when few can make a test / Betwixt indifferent writing and the best?
    Synonyms
    * (challenge) challenge, trial * (sense) quiz, examination
    Antonyms
    * (challenge) breeze * (sense) recess
    Derived terms
    * acid test * babysitter test * blood test * flame test * inkblot test * litmus test * nose test * Rorschach test * smell test * smoke test * sniff test * stress test * test case * tester * test tube
    Descendants
    * German: (l) * Dutch: (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To refine (gold, silver, etc.) in a test or cupel; to subject to cupellation.
  • To .
  • Climbing the mountain tested our stamina.
  • To put to the proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of by experiment, or by some principle or standard; to try.
  • to test''' the soundness of a principle; to '''test the validity of an argument
  • * Washington
  • Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution.
  • (academics) To administer or assign an examination, often given during the academic term, to (somebody).
  • To place a product or piece of equipment under everyday and/or extreme conditions and examine it for its durability, etc.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Charles T. Ambrose
  • , title= Alzheimer’s Disease , volume=101, issue=3, page=200, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— […]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.}}
  • (copulative) To be shown to be by test.
  • (chemistry) To examine or try, as by the use of some reagent.
  • to test a solution by litmus paper
    Descendants
    * German: (l)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) tester, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A witness.
  • * Ld. Berners
  • Prelates and great lords of England, who were for the more surety tests of that deed.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To make a testament, or will.