Word.ws English Dictionary

Cromwell's rule

Cromwell's rule proper noun: a rule stating that the use of prior probabilities of 0 or 1 should be avoided, except when applied to statements that are logically true or false, so as to leave room for the possibility that something very unlikely is in fact the case.

Proper noun

Cromwell's rule

  1. A rule stating that the use of prior probabilities of 0 or 1 should be avoided, except when applied to statements that are logically true or false, so as to leave room for the possibility that something very unlikely is in fact the case.

Origin of Cromwell's rule

Named by statistician Dennis Lindley, in reference to Oliver Cromwell, who wrote in 1650: "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken."

Questions about Cromwell's rule

What does Cromwell's rule mean?
Cromwell's rule means a rule stating that the use of prior probabilities of 0 or 1 should be avoided, except when applied to statements that are logically true or false, so as to leave room for the possibility that something very unlikely is in fact the case.
What part of speech is Cromwell's rule?
Cromwell's rule is a proper noun.

Words near Cromwell's rule in the dictionary

  1. Cromptons
  2. Croms
  3. cromulence
  4. cromulent
  5. Cromwell
  6. Cromwell's rule
  7. Cromwellian
  8. Cromwellian chair
  9. Cromwellian chairs
  10. Cromwellianism
  11. Cromwellians

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Cromwell's rule (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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