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
as in categories
one of the units into which a whole is divided on the basis of a common characteristic
all of these books with their conspiracy theories fall under the rubric of speculative fiction
Synonyms & Similar Words
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
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
The board spoke with educators, community members, student leaders and policy makers over an 18-month period to create new rubrics describing the range of performance expected in each performance level.
—Kate Perez, Chicago Tribune, 12 Aug. 2025
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
The board spoke with educators, community members, student leaders and policy makers over an 18-month period to create new rubrics describing the range of performance expected in each performance level.
—Kate Perez, Chicago Tribune, 12 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rubrics
Noun
-
Region tournaments took place earlier this week, during which several Nashville area teams and individuals earned the right to defend their titles from a season ago.—
Jacob Shames,
Nashville Tennessean,
2 Oct. 2025
-
Univision, the Spanish-language media giant, acquired The Root in 2015 and assembled a portfolio of online brands — only to scrap that strategy and sell the titles to Great Hill Partners, a private equity firm, in 2019.—
Brian Stelter,
CNN Money,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Student athletes whose coaches have already departed are grandfathered in under previous rules.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
8 Oct. 2025
-
McMahon is prepared to loosen even more rules on the money.—
Megan O’Matz,
ProPublica,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Our favorite fall dresses are a good place to start, but Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days event also has markdowns across categories like home, kitchen, beauty, and more.—
Melanie Fincher,
Southern Living,
7 Oct. 2025
-
Trump has vowed for weeks to clean up crime in Chicago, though the city has experienced a decline in most major crime categories this year, according to WBEZ.—
Obed Manuel,
NPR,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Google’s Search Central guidance and WCAG principles both emphasize making content easy to crawl and understand, using clear headings, logical site structures, descriptive alt text and meaningful link text.—
Ran Ronen,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
-
Attached to the appeal letter were nearly 200 pages of records organized by headings and numbers.—
Duaa Eldeib,
ProPublica,
10 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Beans are often associated with South America, the Dutch have popularized the instant coffee brands Americans have become most familiar with and café culture centers on Italian espresso traditions.—
Lyndsay C. Green,
Freep.com,
3 Oct. 2025
-
Unlike Vegas, the Phoenix franchise has been rooted in place since the WNBA’s inception, so there’s been more space for traditions to bloom.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
One site, as reported by Phys, had a distinct path, whereas another lacked these types of markers.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Oct. 2025
-
These types of cases focus on if there's an expectation of privacy.—
Nushrat Rahman,
Freep.com,
6 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
After a shake-up in the leadership of her controversial conservatorship, fans began to grow concerned for the musician who virtually disappeared from public life, but started frequently posting dancing videos to her Instagram, often with wild, semi-coherent captions.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Oct. 2025
-
Keep your language simple, avoid jargon and use captions, ASL interpreters and visual aids.—
Elle Chan,
Rolling Stone,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Smoking of all kinds, including e-cigarettes, is prohibited.—
Ed Masley,
AZCentral.com,
4 Oct. 2025
-
Yet most of those families are still systematically behind due to racial inequality, and Black families, of all kinds, are facing discrimination that leads to higher suspension and expulsion rates in school, lower on-time high school completion rates, and not enough financial resources.—
Meagan Jordan,
Rolling Stone,
3 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rubrics.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rubrics. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share