Rubric

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɹuːbɹɪk/

Alternative forms

• rubrick obsolete

Origin

Through Old French rubrique, from Latin rubrīca ("red ochre"), the substance used to make red letters, from ruber ("red"), from Proto-Indo-European *reudh-.

Full definition of rubric

Noun

1. A heading in a book highlighted in red.
2. A title of a category or a class.
• That would fall under the rubric of things we can ignore for now.
• 2008, Chris Dodd, S:Senator Dodd Speaks in Opposition to FISA Bill on Floor of U.S. Senate, And in one swoop, the Attorney General conceded to the president nearly unlimited power, just as long as he finds a lawyer willing to stuff his actions into the boundless rubric of “defending the country.”
3. An established rule or custom, a guideline.
• HookAll the clergy in England solemnly pledge themselves to observe the rubrics.
• De QuinceyNay, as a duty, it had no place or rubric in human conceptions before Christianity.
4. (education) A printed set of scoring criteria for evaluating student work and for giving feedback.

Synonyms

Related terms

• rubricate

Adjective

1. Coloured or marked with red; placed in rubrics.
• Alexander PopeWhat though my name stood rubric on the walls
  Or plaistered posts, with claps, in capitals?
2. Of or relating to the rubric or rubrics; rubrical.

Verb

1. (transitive) To adorn with red; to redden.