rule of thumb

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Related to rule of thumb: Rule of thirds

rule of thumb

n. pl. rules of thumb

A useful principle having wide application but not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable in every situation.

[From the use of the thumb as a makeshift ruler or measuring device, as in carpentry.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

rule of thumb

a. a rough and practical approach, based on experience, rather than a scientific or precise one based on theory

b. (as modifier): a rule-of-thumb decision.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

rule′ of thumb′

1. a general principle or rule based on experience or practice, as opposed to a scientific calculation.

2. a rough, practical method of procedure.

[1685–95]

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Noun

rule of thumb - a rule or principle that provides guidance to appropriate behavior

guidepost, guideline

rule, regulation - a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior; "it was his rule to take a walk before breakfast"; "short haircuts were the regulation"

Translations

Faustregel Daumenregel

regla general

nyrkkisääntö

ökölszabály

þumalputtaregla

metodo approssimativo metodo pratico

tumregel

References in classic literature ?

She was born in a rural district of England, where life proceeds by rule of thumb and the unexpected is so very unexpected that when it happens it is looked upon as an immorality.

View in context

When you are near the inflection point where wind and slope might take you beyond the effective runway length required for a safe takeoff, you can go to the POH and make a calculation, or can use the rule of thumb for calculating "effective runway length" with a tailwind.

Downwind Or Downhill? It isn't that simple

This is a rule of thumb for advection fog and advection stratus.

WEATHER RULES OF THUMB

The formulation is fuzzier than any sort of exact recipe (as in baking) or algorithm, but a Rule of Thumb is a way to solve a problem much more quickly than following a detailed set of rules.

Heuristics for Horn Players

Unfortunately, there is no "rule of thumb" for breaking in a new firearm.

How do you break in a gun?

If you round those numbers up, you get 8-12 fps, with a middle ground of 10 fps, which is the generally accepted rule of thumb. Just remember you will trend on the lower side with bows that have an IBO speed rating under 335 fps and come out a little higher on bows with a speed rating greater than 335 fps.

The truth about arrow speed: making sense of the game of inches, pounds and grains

At any rate, if you Google "rule of thumb" you will find there are many explanations about where the phrase came from--everything from violence (proper thickness of a stick used to discipline someone or something), to physical measurement (distance between the base of the thumbnail and the first joint is an inch), to wind measurement (raising a wet thumb into the air), or to setting a table (in order set a row of plates one places the thumb on the edge of the table and extends it).

Rules of thumb, or DeRots

That growth rate is roughly half of what our rule of thumb would suggest we need just to hold the unemployment rate constant.

An unstable Okun's law, not the best rule of thumb

Can either rule of thumb be credible if each yields a drastically different value?

How not to value a business

Takayuki Tamura and colleagues note that wine connoisseurs established the rule of thumb because of the flavor clash between red wine and fish.