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.”

   “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. The directions for a religious service, formerly printed in red letters.

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

4. An established rule or custom; a guideline.

   “Whilst this rubric is not written into law, it should always be followed.”

   “1847-1848, Thomas De Quincey, "Protestantism", in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine Nay, as a duty, it had no place or rubric in human conceptions before Christianity.”

   “Let Comus rise Archbishop of the land; Let him your rubric and your feasts prescribe”

   “Through processes such as “reinforcement learning with human feedback,” which enlists people to grade AI outputs against a rubric, models are guided toward responses that exemplify desired traits.”

5. A statement of intent.

   “The Government's rubric of "caring for communities" is ridiculous.”

   ““It is diabolical for banks and asset managers to invest billions in major fossil fuel companies under the rubric of ‘green investing’ when we need to accelerate investments in non- and low-carbon energy, in carbon efficiency, and in carbon removal technologies,” said Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute.”

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.”

   “In the first prospectus the rubric on this paper began 'Historical sources and materials and how the historian uses them[…]'”

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.

adj

1. Coloured or marked with red; placed in rubrics.

   “VVhat tho' my Name ſtood rubric on the vvalls? / Or plaiſter'd poſts, vvith Claps in capitals?”

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

verb

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

   “That Cavalier who Rubricks his Executions with the Bloud he hath drawn by the instrument of Extortion from the Poor.”

2. (transitive)To organize or classify into rubrics.