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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

rubric.

A heading in a book highlighted in red.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɹuːbɹɪk/
  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.
  3. The directions for a religious service, formerly printed in red letters.

  4. An established rule or custom; a guideline.

    Whilst this rubric is not written into law, it should always be followed.
  5. A statement of intent.

    The Government's rubric of "caring for communities" is ridiculous.
  6. A set of explanatory notes or rules at the beginning of an exam paper, usually typographically distinct from the rest of the paper.

    Do not award marks to candidates who have made rubric errors.
  7. A set of scoring criteria for evaluating student work and for giving feedback.

    We refer to the rubric when marking oral examinations.
  8. A flourish after a signature.

  9. Red ochre.

Where this word comes from

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

adj/ˈɹuːbɹɪk/
  1. Coloured or marked with red; placed in rubrics.

  2. Of or relating to the rubric or rubrics; rubrical.

Where this word comes from

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

verb/ˈɹuːbɹɪk/
  1. To adorn with red; to redden.

    transitive
  2. To organize or classify into rubrics.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.