different between law vs rectitude

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: lô, IPA^(key): /l??/
  • Rhymes: -??
• (US) enPR: lô, IPA^(key): /l?/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: lä, IPA^(key): /l?/
• Homophone: la (in accents with the cot-caught merger)
• Homophone: lore (in non-rhotic accents with the horse-hoarse merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English lawe, la?e, from Old English lagu (“law”), from Old Norse l?g (“law”, literally “things laid down or fixed”), originally the plural of lag (“layer, stratum, a laying in order, measure, stroke”), from Proto-Germanic *lag? (“that which is laid down”), from Proto-Indo-European *leg?- (“to lie”). Cognate with Icelandic lög (“things laid down, law”), Swedish lag (“law”), Danish lov (“law”). Replaced Old English ? and ?esetnes. More at lay. Unrelated to French loi nor Spanish ley, since they both derive from *le?- (“to gather”).

Noun

law (countable and uncountable, plural laws)

1. The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
   1. The body of such rules that pertain to a particular topic.

   2. Common law, as contrasted with equity.
2. A binding regulation or custom established in a community in this way.
3. (more generally) A rule, such as:
   1. Any rule that must or should be obeyed, concerning behaviours and their consequences. (Compare mores.)

   2. A rule or principle regarding the construction of language or art.
   3. A statement (in physics, etc) of an (observed, established) order or sequence or relationship of phenomena which is invariable under certain conditions. (Compare theory.)
      • 1992 March 2, Richard Preston, The New Yorker, "The Mountains of Pi":

        Observing pi is easier than studying physical phenomena, because you can prove things in mathematics, whereas you can’t prove anything in physics. And, unfortunately, the laws of physics change once every generation.

   4. (mathematics, logic) A statement (of relation) that is true under specified conditions; a mathematical or logical rule.

   5. Any statement of the relation of acts and conditions to their consequences.

   6. (cricket) One of the official rules of cricket as codified by the its (former) governing body, the MCC.
4. The control and order brought about by the observance of such rules.

5. (informal) A person or group that act(s) with authority to uphold such rules and order (for example, one or more police officers).

6. The profession that deals with such rules (as lawyers, judges, police officers, etc).

7. Jurisprudence, the field of knowledge which encompasses these rules.

8. Litigation, legal action (as a means of maintaining or restoring order, redressing wrongs, etc).

9. (now uncommon) An allowance of distance or time (a head start) given to a weaker (human or animal) competitor in a race, to make the race more fair.
10. (fantasy) One of two metaphysical forces ruling the world in some fantasy settings, also called order, and opposed to chaos.
11. (law, chiefly historical) An oath sworn before a court, especially disclaiming a debt. (Chiefly in the phrases "wager of law", "wage one's law", "perform one's law", "lose one's law".)

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

law (third-person singular simple present laws, present participle lawing, simple past and past participle lawed)

1. (obsolete) To work as a lawyer; to practice law.
2. (transitive, intransitive, chiefly dialectal) To prosecute or sue (someone), to litigate.
   • 1860, George Eliot (Mary Anne Lewes), The Mill on the Floss:

     Your husband's [...] so given to lawing, they say. I doubt he'll leave you poorly off when he dies.
3. (nonstandard) To rule over (with a certain effect) by law; govern.
4. (informal) To enforce the law.
5. To subject to legal restrictions.

See also

• Appendix:Legal terms
• Appendix:Glossary of legal terms
• Category:Law
• lawe

Etymology 2

From Middle English lawe, from Old English hl?w (“burial mound”). Also spelled low.

Noun

law (plural laws)

1. (obsolete) A tumulus of stones.
2. (Scotland and Northern England, archaic) A hill.

Etymology 3

Compare la.

Interjection

law

1. (dated) An exclamation of mild surprise; lawks.

References

Etymology in ODS

Anagrams

• AWL, WAL, WLA, Wal., awl, lwa

Khumi Chin

Etymology

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *khlaa, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-la. Cognates include Tibetan ???? (zla ba) and Burmese ? (la.).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l??/

Noun

law

1. moon
2. month

References

• R. Shafer (1944) , “Khimi Grammar and Vocabulary”, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, volume 11, issue 2, page 422
• K. E. Herr (2011) The phonological interpretation of minor syllables, applied to Lemi Chin?^[1], Payap University, page 42

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *l?v?, from Proto-Indo-European *lewo-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /law/

Noun

law m (diminutive lawk, feminine equivalent lawowka)

1. lion (Panthera leo)

Declension

Derived terms

• lawica
• lawik
• lawowy

Further reading

• law in Ernst Muka/Mucke (St. Petersburg and Prague 1911–28): S?ownik dolnoserbskeje r?cy a jeje nar?cow / Wörterbuch der nieder-wendischen Sprache und ihrer Dialekte. Reprinted 2008, Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
• law in Manfred Starosta (1999): Dolnoserbsko-nimski s?ownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch. Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag.

Middle English

Noun

law

1. Alternative form of lawe

Scots

Noun

law (plural laws)

1. law
2. rounded hill (usually conical, frequently isolated or conspicuous)

Sranan Tongo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lau?/

Verb

law

1. To be crazy
2. To drive somebody crazy

Upper Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *l?v?, from Proto-Indo-European *lewo-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lau?/

Noun

law m

1. lion (Panthera leo)

Declension

Derived terms

• lawica, lawjace/-a/-y, lawowe/-a/-y

Welsh

Noun

law

1. Soft mutation of glaw (“rain”).

Mutation

Noun

law

1. Soft mutation of llaw (“hand”).

Mutation

English

Etymology

From Middle English rectitude, from Middle French rectitude, from Late Latin rectit?d? (“straightness, uprightness”), from Latin rectus (“straight”), perfect passive participle of reg? (“regulate, guide”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???k.t?.tju?d/, /???k.t?.tju?d/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???k.t?.tu?d/, /???k.t?.tju?d/

Noun

rectitude (countable and uncountable, plural rectitudes)

1. Straightness; the state or quality of having a constant direction and not being crooked or bent. [from 15th c.]
2. (now rare) The fact or quality of being right or correct; correctness of opinion or judgement. [from 15th c.]
   • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 98:

     A consciousness of rectitude can be a terrible thing, and in those days I didn't just think that I was right: I thought that “we” (our group of International Socialists in particular) were being damn well proved right.

3. Conformity to the rules prescribed for moral conduct; (moral) uprightness, virtue. [from 16th c.]
   • 1776 July 4, Thomas Jefferson, et al., United States Declaration of Independence:

     We, therefore, the Repre?entatives of the united States of America, in General Congre?s, A?sembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of the?e Colonies, ?olemnly publi?h and declare, That the?e United Colonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States […]

Quotations

• For more quotations using this term, see Citations:rectitude.

Synonyms

• (rightness of principle): honesty, integrity, morality

Translations

References

• rectitude in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• certitude

French

Etymology

From Late Latin rectit?d? (“straightness, uprightness”), from Latin rectus (“straight”), perfect passive participle of reg? (“regulate, guide”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??k.ti.tyd/
• Homophone: rectitudes
• Hyphenation: rec?ti?tude

Noun

rectitude f (plural rectitudes)

1. rectitude

Derived terms

• rectitude politique

Further reading

• “rectitude” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• certitude