The DICT Development Group

  Norm \Norm\, n. [L. norma a rule. See Normal, a.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. A rule or authoritative standard; a model; a type; as,
        deviations from the norm are not tolerated.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     2. (Biol.) A typical, structural unit; a type. --Agassiz.
        [1913 Webster]

  norm
      n 1: a standard or model or pattern regarded as typical; "the
           current middle-class norm of two children per family"
      2: a statistic describing the location of a distribution; "it
         set the norm for American homes" [syn: average, norm]

  116 Moby Thesaurus words for "norm":
     Procrustean law, Ten Commandments, Weltanschauung, Zeitgeist,
     average, axiology, balance, barometer, behavioral norm, benchmark,
     business ethics, canon, center, check, climate, climate of opinion,
     code, code of ethics, code of morals, commandment, convention,
     criterion, decalogue, degree, dictum, ethic, ethical system,
     ethics, ethos, form, formality, formula, formulary, gauge,
     general principle, generality, golden mean, golden rule,
     graduated scale, guideline, guiding principle, happy medium,
     ideology, imperative, intellectual climate, juste-milieu, law,
     law of nature, legal ethics, maxim, mean, measure, median,
     medical ethics, mediocrity, medium, middle, middle course,
     middle ground, middle point, middle position, middle state,
     middle-of-the-road, midpoint, mitzvah, model, moral, moral climate,
     moral code, moral principles, morals, mores, new morality, norma,
     normal, normative system, norms, order of nature, ordinance, par,
     parameter, pattern, prescribed form, prescription, principium,
     principle, principles, professional ethics, quantity, reading,
     readout, regulation, rubric, rule, run, scale, set form,
     settled principle, social ethics, spiritual climate, standard,
     standards, standing order, tenet, test, touchstone, type,
     universal law, usual, value, value system, via media,
     working principle, working rule, world view, yardstick
  
  

  norm
  
      A real-valued function modelling the length of
     a vector.  The norm must be homogeneous and symmetric
     and fulfil the following condition: the shortest way to reach
     a point is to go straight toward it.  Every convex symmetric
     closed surface surrounding point 0 introduces a norm by
     means of Minkowski functional; all vectors that end on the
     surface have the same norm then.
  
     The most popular norm is the Euclidean norm.
  
     (2004-02-15)