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norm

noun

Simple meaning

A rule that is imposed by regulations and/or socially enforced by members of a community.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

nawrm
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈnɔɹm

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. That which is normal or typical.

  2. A rule that is imposed by regulations and/or socially enforced by members of a community.

  3. chess

    A high level of performance in a chess tournament, several of which are required for a player to receive a title.

  4. If v ne 0 then ‖v‖ ne 0

  5. Given a scalar k, ‖kv‖=|k|·‖v‖, where |k| is the absolute value of k

  6. A diminutive of the male given name Norman.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: That which is normal or typical.

Used this way, norm is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use norm

  • “The current middle-class norm of two children per family.”noun
  • “It set the norm for American homes.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Rule

legal normnorm group

Standard

moral norm

Other combinations

cultural normbasic normnational normnew normgeneral norm

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • normaladjectiveDerived adjective

    Conforming with or constituting a norm or standard or level or type or social norm.

  • normallyadverbDerived adverb

    Under normal conditions.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • normativeadjectiveRelated term

    Relating to or dealing with norms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.