Past tense of rule
regular verb
The past tense of rule is ruled. The past participle is also ruled.
Forms of rule
| Base form (V1) | rule /ɹuːl/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | ruled /ɹuːld/ |
| Past participle (V3) | ruled /ɹuːld/ |
| Present participle | ruling /ˈɹuːlɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | rules /ˈɹuːlz/ |
Ruled in a sentence
- 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.2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10
- The court ruled that the executive order was not law and nullified it.From the entry law
- A study of the suspect's character and his cast iron alibi ruled him out.From the entry character
- The Supreme Court ruled against the applicant and found the statute constitutional.From the entry constitutional
- Tibet was a Buddhist theocracy ruled by the Dalai Lama prior to Chinese annexation.From the entry theocracy
Meaning of rule
- noun A regulation, law, guideline.
- noun A regulating principle.
- noun The act of ruling; administration of law; government; empire; authority; control.
Questions about the past tense of rule
- What is the past tense of rule?
- The past tense of rule is ruled.
- What is the past participle of rule?
- The past participle of rule is ruled.
- Is rule a regular or irregular verb?
- Rule is a regular verb: its past tense adds -d.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rule (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of rule.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/rule. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.