How to Use precept in a Sentence

precept

noun
  • I was taught by precept and by example.
  • My father called his hair a crown, his locks a mane, his beard a precept.
    — Safiya Sinclair, The New Yorker, 31 July 2023
  • The song mattered more than the author, a pop precept more than a rock one.
    — Michaelangelo Matos, Rolling Stone, 24 Aug. 2022
  • First, not everyone agrees that those four precepts are the precepts.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Not feeding the trolls is one of the first and most important precepts of our current era.
    — Chris Stirewalt, Fox News, 1 June 2017
  • Some argue that there are five, six, seven, or more precepts that belong in the doctrine.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Those are some of the downtown precepts that haven’t taken as easily.
    — Giovanni Russonello, New York Times, 12 Dec. 2017
  • The precept that wars make states make constitutions held elsewhere.
    — Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2021
  • One of her core precepts is to go on an artist’s date, a solo excursion to experience new things.
    — Janine MacLachlan, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024
  • Likewise, the precept that large monuments and tombs are always proof of systems of rank comes up for review.
    — Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 11 July 2022
  • The precepts laid down there form the foundations of the medical philosophies that shape our health care today.
    — Jordan Kisner, The Atlantic, 7 Mar. 2020
  • All of those precepts sent Google's workforce into full tilt after the travel ban was announced.
    — Nitasha Tiku, WIRED, 13 Aug. 2019
  • This is helpful when many of the precepts of elite opinion have been so dominant as to go largely unnoticed.
    — Vanityfair.com, VanityFair.com, 3 Jan. 2017
  • Welcoming the stranger, or immigrant, is thus a central precept of their faith practices.
    — Sarah Ventre, NPR, 11 Feb. 2025
  • Those sharp eyes also kept watch at home, which was strict and faith-filled in following the precepts of the Catholic Church.
    — Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Apr. 2024
  • As teenage boys are wont to do, Reuven and Danny question and challenge many of their elders' precepts.
    — Jim Higgins, Journal Sentinel, 28 Feb. 2024
  • These are precepts that have successfully reduced costs and brought technologies to market in the past.
    — Mirek Dušek, TIME, 26 June 2024
  • In one sense, this is shocking, but not surprising, as the man has no core principles, no core moral precepts that guide his behavior.
    — Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 8 Jan. 2024
  • Their precepts have been followed by people as diverse as Daniel Boone and Gauguin.
    — Will Stephenson, Harper's Magazine, 16 Aug. 2023
  • These strategic precepts first failed to prevent, and then prolonged, World War II.
    — Alexander Cooley, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
  • Citing the Buddhist precept of non-violence, Gaitok owns up to not having a killer instinct.
    — Dan Heching, CNN Money, 31 Mar. 2025
  • Both in terms of maximizing his muscle and playing to the Heat's defensive precepts.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun-Sentinel.com, 15 Mar. 2018
  • Health workers, deeply invested in the precepts of social medicine, are sure to resist Milei’s attempts at health reform.
    — Eric D. Carter, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2023
  • The drafting of precepts for ensuring AI welfare would need to be composed and debated.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 2 Dec. 2024
  • The report found that Taliban judges were well trained and drew on cultural norms and common sense, not just Islamic precepts.
    — Pamela Constable, Washington Post, 21 June 2018
  • The basic precept of the best-in-breed concept is to look at clouds and third parties as simply collections of services that can be mixed and matched as an app team's needs dictate.
    — Kit Colbert, Forbes, 11 Oct. 2021
  • Change is inevitable, but the rapid destruction of the basic precepts upon which our government was formed is beyond dangerous.
    — U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Sep. 2025
  • By conforming them to the precepts of reality TV, the show does not live up to its stars’ actual weirdness.
    — Peter Tonguette, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 21 Mar. 2025
  • Its precepts are hard to find in the writings of thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli and Carl von Clausewitz.
    — Carter Malkasian, Foreign Affairs, 20 Sep. 2024
  • From the importance of lids to picking the best fragrance for every room in your house, here, Raza shares the four simple precepts on how to burn a candle like a grown-up.
    — Mackenzie Wagoner, Vogue, 9 Jan. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'precept.' 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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