Rubicon
noun
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In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar led his army to the banks of the Rubicon, a small river that marked the boundary between Italy and Gaul. Caesar knew Roman law forbade a general from leading his army out of the province to which he was assigned. By crossing the Rubicon, he would violate that law. "The die is cast," he said, wading in. That act of defiance sparked a three-year civil war that ultimately left Julius Caesar the undisputed ruler of the Roman world. It also inspired English speakers to adopt two popular sayings -crossing the Rubicon and the die is cast-centuries later. Rubicon has been used in English as the name of a significant figurative boundary since at least the early 1600s.
Examples of Rubicon in a Sentence
Ken Belson, New York Times, 3 Aug. 2023
The widespread assumption was that nuclear weapons were weapons unlike any other, and that using them would mean crossing a Rubicon to Armageddon.
—Jackson Lears, Harper's Magazine, 9 June 2023
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had no more maneuvers to stave off a default that could have hit on Monday – a Rubicon the government has never crossed.
—Todd J. Gillman, Dallas News, 2 June 2023
The dehumanization of immigrants (or anyone) is a Rubicon that, once crossed, can set in motion the worst of humanitarian disasters.
—Molly Jong-Fast, Vogue, 23 Sep. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Rubicon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Rubicon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Rubicon. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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Rubicon
geographical name
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