bright line
5
6.3
- noun
- Jargon
:
línea clara
- The committee established a bright line to clearly define acceptable behavior in the workplace.
- bright line rule
- bright line test
There should be a bright line between those two roles.
- There should be a bright line between those two roles.
- So, so there's a fairly bright line there with regard to securities.
- So in your life you need bright lines.
- So we thought it was important to to draw a bright line and, and then publicize that.
Examples
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Until somebody comes down with a bright line, people tend to keep pushing, and pushing, and pushing.
Academic text (2017) -
Where the challenged governmental conduct involves law enforcement, the bright-line rule follows nicely from the underlying principles.
Academic text (2017) -
There should be a bright line between those two roles.
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So I draw a bright line on the word "rape."
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But since they're not, the bright line approach is better.
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So we actually do have hard bright line rules in situations where failure is catastrophic.
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One, either the bare recitation of the facts or a bright line legal rule.
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The solution, however, is not necessarily the present bright-line rule requiring physical injury or property damage.
Academic text (1990) -
Moving forward, states are likely to continue to expand sales tax nexus within the bright-line physical presence rule.
Academic text (2017) -
In both of these cases, the interaction of the bright line rule with other doctrines leads to unsatisfactory results.
Academic text (2017)
Synonyms
1
7.8
A clear rule that tells people exactly what to do
Antonyms
How Clear
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'a clear and definite distinction' is directly derivable from combining 'bright' (metaphorically 'clear' or 'obvious') with 'line' (a boundary or distinction). This adjective+noun composition and the metaphor of light indicating clarity is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
The noun bright line gives the simple image of a very clear, bright line drawn between two sides to separate them. That's why people use bright line to mean 'a clear and definite rule' that helps make decisions.