rubric

English

WOTD – 27 July 2008

A manuscript page with rubrics.

Alternative forms

• rubrick (obsolete)

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Middle English rubrich, rubrik, from Old French rubrique, from Latin rubrīca (“red ochre”), the substance used to make red letters, from ruber (“red”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹuːbɹɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

rubric (plural rubrics)

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, 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. (Christianity) The directions for a religious service, formerly printed in red letters.
   • (Can we date this quote by Hook and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     All the clergy in England solemnly pledge themselves to observe the rubrics.

4. An established rule or custom; a guideline.
   • (Can we date this quote by De Quincey and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Nay, as a duty, it had no place or rubric in human conceptions before Christianity.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Cowper to this entry?)

5. (education) A printed set of scoring criteria for evaluating student work and for giving feedback.
6. A flourish after a signature.
7. Red ochre.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:class

Related terms

• rubricate
• rubicund

Translations

heading in a book highlighted in red

• Finnish: rubriikki (fi), otsikko (fi)
• German: Rubrik (de) f
• Indonesian: rubrik (id)
• Irish: rúibric f, ceannteideal m, ceannscríbhinn f
• Latin: rubrica f
• Latvian: rubrika (lv) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: rubrică (ro) f
• Russian: кра́сная строка́ (ru) f (krásnaja stroká)
• Spanish: rúbrica f
• Swedish: rubrik (sv) c

category or classification

• Czech: rubrika f
• Dutch: rubriek (nl) f
• Finnish: kategoria (fi)
• German: Rubrik (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: rubrika (hu)
• Latvian: rubrika (lv) f
• Portuguese: rubrica (pt) f
• Russian: катего́рия (ru) f (kategórija)

established rule or custom, a guideline

• Finnish: ohje (fi), ohjeistus (fi)
• Indonesian: rubrik (id)
• Maori: pūraranga
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: rúbrica f

printed set of scoring criteria

• Indonesian: rubrik (id)
• Spanish: matriz de evaluación, rúbrica f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Adjective

rubric (comparative more rubric, superlative most rubric)

1. Coloured or marked with red; placed in rubrics.
   • (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     What 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

rubric (third-person singular simple present rubrics, present participle rubricking, simple past and past participle rubricked)

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

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

Further reading

• “rubric”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “rubric”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.