"rule of three" meaning in English

See rule of three in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

Forms: the rule of three [canonical]
Head templates: {{en-proper noun|def=1}} the rule of three
  1. (mathematics education) A rule stating that, if two ratios are equal, then the denominator of the second equals its numerator times the reciprocal of the first ratio: if a/b=c/d then d=(bc)/a. Categories (topical): Education, Mathematics
    Sense id: en-rule_of_three-en-name-lJ23FvN0 Topics: education, mathematics, sciences
  2. (medicine) A rule for clinical trials used for determining the rate of adverse side effects when no such side effects present during the course of the trial. Categories (topical): Medicine
    Sense id: en-rule_of_three-en-name-dmQQ0Hyx Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 6 23 8 21 15 26 Topics: medicine, sciences
  3. (writing, rhetoric) A rule which states that things which come in groups of three are inherently funnier or more effective than things which come in groups of other sizes. Tags: rhetoric Categories (topical): Rhetoric, Writing
    Sense id: en-rule_of_three-en-name-GGSpFnbX Topics: communications, journalism, literature, media, publishing, writing
  4. (writing, rhetoric) A rule which states that things which come in groups of three are inherently funnier or more effective than things which come in groups of other sizes.
    (writing, rhetoric) Specifically, the technique of having a setup in advance, a reminder to keep it fresh in the audience's memory, and then a payoff.
    Tags: rhetoric Categories (topical): Rhetoric, Writing
    Sense id: en-rule_of_three-en-name-4RLMTtcZ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 6 23 8 21 15 26 Topics: communications, journalism, literature, media, publishing, writing
  5. (religion, Wicca) A religious tenet stating that the energy a person puts out into the world, positive or negative, will be returned to that person threefold. Categories (topical): Religion, Wicca
    Sense id: en-rule_of_three-en-name-We47v365 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 6 23 8 21 15 26 Topics: Wicca, lifestyle, religion
  6. (programming) A rule of thumb in the C++ programming language, stating that any class that defines a destructor, a copy constructor, or a copy assignment operator should define all three of them. Categories (topical): Programming
    Sense id: en-rule_of_three-en-name-SqkKb0nH Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 6 23 8 21 15 26 Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, programming, sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: the Rule of Three Related terms: cross-multiplication [mathematics, sciences] Translations (mathematical rule): kolmen sääntö (Finnish), règle de trois [feminine] (French), reguła trzech [feminine] (Polish), regulă de trei [feminine] (Romanian), regla de tres [feminine] (Spanish)
Disambiguation of 'mathematical rule': 17 16 22 22 2 22

Download JSON data for rule of three meaning in English (7.9kB)

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      "_dis1": "17 16 22 22 2 22",
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      "word": "kolmen sääntö"
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      "sense": "mathematical rule",
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    }
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}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.