rule of thumb
ROOL of THUM
ruːl əv θʌmListen
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Syllable breakdown
Dictionary meaning
a practical principle or guideline derived from experience and common sense rather than from precise scientific measurement or formal analysis, offering a quick and reasonably reliable way to make estimates, judgments, or decisions in everyday situations without requiring exact calculation; the origin of the phrase is disputed, with suggestions ranging from a carpenter's use of the thumb as an approximate measuring device to various disputed legal connections, but its current meaning is firmly established as an informal heuristic that sacrifices precision for speed and practicality; rules of thumb are valuable precisely because they encode accumulated practical wisdom in a form that can be applied rapidly and without specialised expertise
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