How to Use ground rule in a Sentence

ground rule

noun
  • There were a few ground rules for the day.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 19 Aug. 2016
  • Paul had a third homer, but it was ruled a ground rule double.
    — Duane Rankin, The Arizona Republic, 23 June 2022
  • Think of it as setting ground rules for a game—what's in bounds and what's out?
    — Saurabh Choudhuri, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024
  • Before starting the two agreed on the ground rules of their bet.
    — Sportsday Staff, Dallas News, 18 Mar. 2020
  • No lecture or strict ground rules are required.
    — Wendy Rose Gould, Martha Stewart, 4 June 2026
  • But first, here are some ground rules that vary depending on your age.
    — Tom Margenau, Dallas News, 19 Mar. 2023
  • Try to establish ground rules to make the time more bearable.
    — Ronda Kaysen, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2020
  • Put some ground rules in place to help your employees manage stress.
    — Bob Weinstein, Houston Chronicle, 30 Nov. 2019
  • Few apps care to set some ground rules at the get-go like this, even if this is the slimmest of requests.
    — PCMAG, 6 May 2024
  • Also, there were no ground rules, no uniform method to my madness.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 26 Mar. 2024
  • This isn't a complex task but there are certain ground rules to follow here.
    — Vasudevan Swaminathan, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2023
  • While their kids are still young, both plan to proceed with caution and plenty of ground rules.
    — Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 16 May 2025
  • The only way to keep things civil is to establish some ground rules.
    — Natalie B. Compton, Anchorage Daily News, 10 Mar. 2023
  • The main political forces have agreed on the ground rules for a new election.
    — The Economist, 23 Jan. 2020
  • No ground rules needed to be set before cameras began to roll.
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 28 Sep. 2025
  • Policy’s supposed to create the guardrails and the ground rules.
    — Eric Johnson, Vox, 15 July 2019
  • Henry Winkler has some ground rules when his grandkids come by the house — well, just a few.
    — Emma Aerin Becker, Peoplemag, 14 Aug. 2024
  • You’re allowed to set ground rules for all connections — even friendships.
    — Tarot.com, Hartford Courant, 7 Mar. 2026
  • There are a few ground rules to follow when assembling your bulb lasagna in order to get good results.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Sanders and Gyakum adjusted the ground rules to vary based on latitude.
    — Brandon Miller, CNN, 16 Oct. 2019
  • Players in their first big-league spring training camp know the clubhouse ground rules — ears and eyes open, mouth shut, don't be late.
    — Jeff Wilson, star-telegram, 17 Feb. 2018
  • Mallenbaum shares the tricks of the trade and the unbreakable ground rules (no touching is a big one).
    — Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 20 Oct. 2017
  • Frightened, most of all, about how the ground rules for being a worthwhile person are changing so fast.
    — Laurie Penny, Longreads, 11 Oct. 2017
  • Others viewed the effort to nix it as a violation of the council’s ground rules.
    — Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2024
  • As for ground rules, the nets will be treated like walls — as in, a ball that bounces or is thrown into the netting remains in play.
    — Scott King, BostonGlobe.com, 22 July 2019
  • Yet to the extent possible, the publicist adds, the game will proceed by his ground rules.
    — Los Angeles Magazine, 19 Dec. 2017
  • Even within the department store, the most powerful brands have started to change the ground rules.
    — Joshua Levine, WSJ, 15 Jan. 2019
  • But Alamo breaks his own ground rules, raising his pistol and attempting to fire before the glass breaks.
    — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 1 June 2026
  • In helming one of the world’s biggest airline groups, Kirby has also laid some ground rules to avoid burnout.
    — Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 14 Apr. 2026
  • The first might have cost the Padres a run as Luis Arraez followed with a ground rule double.
    — Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ground rule.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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