rubrics

Definition of rubricsnext
plural of rubric
1
as in titles
a word or series of words often in larger letters placed at the beginning of a passage or at the top of a page in order to introduce or categorize the rubrics at the beginning of the chapters are intended to be humorous

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in rules
an inherited or established way of thinking, feeling, or doing the rubric, popular among jewelers anyway, that a man should spend a month's salary on his fiancée's engagement ring

Synonyms & Similar Words

3

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of rubrics University officials said students in classes taught by striking professors should adhere to their class rubrics and check their emails for updates. Jack O'Connor, Chicago Tribune, 3 Apr. 2026 Once hired, contractors evaluate how well their AI system completes micro-tasks — such as writing a financial memo or drafting a legal brief — using detailed rubrics to grade the AI’s performance. Jake Angelo, Fortune, 13 Jan. 2026 But the other rubrics aren’t kind to Jones, either. Kansas City Star, 10 Oct. 2025 These are essentially risk assessment rubrics that aim to measure an AI model's capabilities and define the point at which its behavior becomes dangerous in areas like cybersecurity or biosciences. Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 22 Sep. 2025 Create two to three behavioral questions for all candidates and grade them with consistent rubrics. Sharon Wu, USA Today, 19 Sep. 2025 Erin McGlothlin, the vice dean of undergraduate affairs in WashU’s College of Arts & Sciences, told me this stems from the belief that grading rubrics should be crystal clear in spelling out how class discussion is evaluated. Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 17 Aug. 2025 During the hiring process, candidates should be evaluated based on objective criteria, rubrics and scorecards should be integrated into the hiring process, and if culture fit is included as a hiring metric, it should be clearly outlined and defined. Janice Gassam Asare, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rubrics
Noun
  • Křížová played in 77 regular-season games and 18 playoff games as part of the Frost’s back-to-back Walter Cup titles.
    Twin Cities, Twin Cities, 31 Mar. 2026
  • Logan Paul and Austin Theory of The Vision defeated The Usos in a street fight to capture the titles, with the finish coming after a sequence involving internet personality IShowSpeed, brass knuckles, and an accidental shot on LA Knight.
    Andrew Ravens‎, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • Federal rules required that phone carriers be able to track the locations of phones for emergency services; Altman struck deals with carriers to tap these capabilities for the company’s use.
    Ronan Farrow, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2026
  • The rules are riddled with conditional exemptions that even experienced attorneys struggle to interpret.
    Tom Manzo, Oc Register, 6 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • The categories included multiple race distances, fun runs, road cycling events and sprint triathlons.
    Ryan Murphy, IndyStar, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Experts say such failures highlight new categories of risk.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 1 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • Simple formatting, recognizable headings, and standard section labels all carry weight in whether a resume is parsed correctly.
    K. H. Koehler, USA Today, 23 Dec. 2025
  • Ratified in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment is short, a mere fifty words including the section headings, but with a large intended effect.
    JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 25 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Passover always starts and finishes in the evening, but traditions can vary depending on geographical location.
    Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 31 Mar. 2026
  • Like the restaurant, Toja draws on local traditions with a spa menu that includes invigorating pijat massages and exfoliating scrubs with rice, ginger, and candle nut.
    Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • There are over 50 types of mosquitoes in Minnesota, but Carlson said scientists can predict the population of cattail mosquitoes more accurately.
    Ashley Grams, CBS News, 3 Apr. 2026
  • The drug also helps control glucose levels for people with other types of diabetes.
    ABC News, ABC News, 2 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • On social media, make jokes that don’t follow logic or build toward a punch line, but rather rely on jump cuts and endless captions.
    Emily Menez, New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2026
  • While organizers of the national movement have not independently verified participation on all seven continents, social media users seized on the image as a symbolic milestone, with many sharing it alongside captions highlighting Antarctica’s status as the world’s southernmost continent.
    Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • Bees of all kinds (with a tiny handful of exceptions) are essential pollinators to an astounding 80 percent of the world’s flowering plants.
    Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026
  • That’s a strange thing, because success and failure can both be disasters of different kinds.
    Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 31 Mar. 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Rubrics.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rubrics. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster