Word.ws English Dictionary

nonrule

nonrule noun: something that is not a rule.

Noun

nonrule (plural nonrules)

  1. Something that is not a rule.
    • How about nonrules? Where do they come from? We said previously that many nonrules are based on an attempt to force English grammar into the mold of Latin.1997, Edward L. Smith, Stephen A. Bernhardt, Writing at Work: Professional Writing Skills for People on the Job, McGraw Hill Professional, →ISBN, page 26
    • Right now, let’s attend to a few of what I think of as the Great Nonrules of the English Language. […] Why are they nonrules? So far as I’m concerned, because they’re largely unhelpful, pointlessly constricting, feckless, and useless.2019, Benjamin Dreyer, Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, Random House, →ISBN, pages 7–8

Forms of nonrule

pluralnonrules
alternative formnon-rule

Origin of nonrule

From non- + rule.

Questions about nonrule

What does nonrule mean?
Nonrule means something that is not a rule.
What part of speech is nonrule?
Nonrule is a noun.
What is the plural of nonrule?
The plural of nonrule is nonrules.

Words near nonrule in the dictionary

  1. nonrubella
  2. nonruby
  3. nonrugby
  4. nonrugged
  5. nonruggedized
  6. nonrule
  7. nonruled
  8. nonrules
  9. nonruling
  10. nonruminant
  11. nonruminants

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nonrule (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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Cite this entry: “nonrule.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nonrule. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.