rule of the road
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.76 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
1
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any of the requirements for how drivers, bicyclists, etc, behave and operate while using public roadways.
noun
The regulation requiring all traffic (travelling on a road or otherwise) to keep either to the left or the right.
noun
(nautical) A regulation concerning safe handling of vessels on roadsteads, seaways, sea lanes, etc.
noun
A basic (fundamental) and general requirement or principle for how to operate or behave in a certain context or domain (for example, an industry, an occupation, a company, an association).
Countable
Example Sentences
- "To obtain a driving licence, you must pass a test to show that you understand the rules of the road."
- "It is a rule of the road in this country that a motorist must yield to a pedestrian who is in a pedestrian crossing."
- "The general rule of the road for steamers is precisely the same as the general rule of the pavement for foot passengers in London […]"
- "Hence in Japan the influential samurai warriors habitually kept to the left while walking or riding. Their example influenced other travellers and resulted in the modern rule of the road in Japan: keep left."
- "The Liverpool and Manchester railway, the first steam-operated passenger railway, which opened in 1830, adopted the British rule of the road, with trains passing each other on the left."
- "You can't fill in fraudulent information on this form if you want to keep your job at this company. That's not a suggestion, that's just a rule of the road around here."