rules are rules in English

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{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "rules are made to be broken"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "rules is rules",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "proverb",
        "head": "~rule􂀿s􂁀"
      },
      "expansion": "rules are rules",
      "name": "en-head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The rules are certain and cannot be ignored or worked around."
      ],
      "id": "en-rules_are_rules-en-proverb-rDE9fIX1",
      "links": [
        [
          "certain",
          "certain#English"
        ],
        [
          "ignore",
          "ignore#English"
        ],
        [
          "worked around",
          "work around#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "you gotta do what you gotta do"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "rules are rules"
}

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{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "rules are made to be broken"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "rules is rules",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "proverb",
        "head": "~rule􂀿s􂁀"
      },
      "expansion": "rules are rules",
      "name": "en-head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "you gotta do what you gotta do"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proverbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The rules are certain and cannot be ignored or worked around."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "certain",
          "certain#English"
        ],
        [
          "ignore",
          "ignore#English"
        ],
        [
          "worked around",
          "work around#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "rules are rules"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). 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.

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"rules are rules" meaning in English

Proverb

Alternative forms