RULER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ruler mean? 

• RULER (noun)
  The noun RULER has 2 senses:

1. a person who rules or commands

2. measuring stick consisting of a strip of wood or metal or plastic with a straight edge that is used for drawing straight lines and measuring lengths

  Familiarity information: RULER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RULER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who rules or commands

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

ruler; swayer

Context example:

swayer of the universe

Hypernyms ("ruler" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ruler"):

Moghul; Mogul (a member of the Muslim dynasty that ruled India until 1857)

tyrant (in ancient Greece, a ruler who had seized power without legal right to it)

Tudor (a member of the dynasty that ruled England)

grand Turk; sultan (the ruler of a Muslim country (especially of the former Ottoman Empire))

Stuart (a member of the royal family that ruled Scotland and England)

crowned head; monarch; sovereign (a nation's ruler or head of state usually by hereditary right)

Arab chief; sheik; sheikh; tribal sheik; tribal sheikh (the leader of an Arab village or family)

dynast (a hereditary ruler)

regent (someone who rules during the absence or incapacity or minority of the country's monarch)

puppet leader; puppet ruler (a leader or ruler who is chosen by a despot to head a government)

Pharaoh; Pharaoh of Egypt (the title of the ancient Egyptian kings)

lord; master; overlord (a person who has general authority over others)

oligarch (one of the rulers in an oligarchy)

khan (a title given to rulers or other important people in Asian countries)

Hanoverian (any of the British rulers who were members of the House of Hanover)

hakim (a Muslim ruler or governor or judge)

ethnarch (the ruler of a province (as in the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire) or certain religious rulers with secular authority)

ameer; amir; emeer; emir (an independent ruler or chieftain (especially in Africa or Arabia))

dictator; potentate (a ruler who is unconstrained by law)

calif; caliph; kalif; kaliph; khalif; khalifah (the civil and religious leader of a Muslim state considered to be a representative of Allah on earth)

Bourbon (a member of the European royal family that ruled France)

basileus (a ruler of the eastern Roman Empire)

Inca (a ruler of the Incas (or a member of his family))

Instance hyponyms:

Tamburlaine; Tamerlane; Timur; Timur Lenk (Mongolian ruler of Samarkand who led his nomadic hordes to conquer an area from Turkey to Mongolia (1336-1405))

Derivation:

rule (decide with authority)

rule (exercise authority over; as of nations)

rulership (the position of ruler)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Measuring stick consisting of a strip of wood or metal or plastic with a straight edge that is used for drawing straight lines and measuring lengths

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

rule; ruler

Hypernyms ("ruler" is a kind of...):

measure; measuring rod; measuring stick (measuring instrument having a sequence of marks at regular intervals; used as a reference in making measurements)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ruler"):

foot rule (a ruler one foot long)

meterstick; metrestick (a rule one meter long (usually marked off in centimeters and millimeters))

yard measure; yardstick (a ruler or tape that is three feet long)

carpenter's rule (a rule used by a carpenter)

Derivation:

rule (mark or draw with a ruler)

 Context examples 

This is significant because in ancient days, Jupiter was your ruler.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The thirteen colonies threw off their rulers and formed the Republic so-called.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Like numbers on a ruler, the cell positions might be marked by levels of a signaling molecule.

(Hearing different frequencies, NIH)

"You are now our ruler," he said to the Scarecrow; "so you must come back to us as soon as possible."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Mr. Micawber tapped himself with the ruler.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is what would be obtained if the distance between two points were measured with a ruler: the "intuitive" idea of distance.

(Euclidean Distance Measurement, NCI Thesaurus)

Had the man who sits upon your right been ruler of this land, I had indeed thought twice before I looked to him for aught that was knightly or generous.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I see her yet in her raging passions, when we had driven her to extremities—spilt our tea, crumbled our bread and butter, tossed our books up to the ceiling, and played a charivari with the ruler and desk, the fender and fire-irons.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The secret of long life for meerkats is not to battle the inevitable declines of ageing, but to be the ruler of your community, profiting from social support and cracking down on would-be rivals.

(Breeder meerkats age faster, but their subordinates still die younger, University of Cambridge)

An unexpected windfall might be yours over the weekend of March 7-8 when Venus, your ruler, conjoins surprise-a-minute Uranus in your eighth house of other people’s money.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)