precept

When did those precepts of manhood become rules for losers?

Council tax includes a so-called police precept, which helps fund services such as regular community policing.

She goes against his precepts and disobeys his orders — they appear as onscreen italic titles — and he gets stroppy, as a father would.

Comments below the video were largely supportive: "Your past does not define who you are," wrote one fan, a core American precept if ever there was one.

While generally true, the precept doesn’t hold in the case of playwright Athol Fugard, whose body of work helped transform the history of his nation.