Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Rubicon |
RubiconNoun1. The boundary in ancient times between Italy and Gaul; Caesar's crossing it with his army in 49 BC was an act of war. 2. A line that when crossed permits of no return and typically results in irrevocable commitment. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "Rubicon" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Literature | Rubicon To pass the Rubicon. To adopt some measure from which it is not possible to recede. Thus, when the Austrains, in 1859, passed the Ticino, the act was a declaration of war against Sardinia; and in 1866, when the Italians passed the Adige, it was a declaration of war against Austria. The Rubicon was a small river separating ancient Italy from Cisalpine Gaul (the province allotted to Julius Caesar). When Caesar crossed this stream he passed beyond the limits of his own province and became an invader of Italy. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The river is notable as Roman law forbade any general from crossing it with a standing army. The river was considered to mark the boundary between the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul and the Roman heartland, the law thus protected the republic from internal military threat.
When Julius Caesar crossed the river in 49 BCE, supposedly on January 10, in pursuit of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus he broke that law and made armed conflict inevitable. According to Suetonius he uttered the famous phrase 'the die is cast' [1]. Suetonius also described how Caesar was apparently still undecided as he approached the river, and the author gave credit for the actual moment of crossing to a supernatural apparition.
The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" has survived to refer to any person committing themselves irrevocably to a risky course of action.
[1] Lives of the Caesars 'Divus Julius' sect. 32. Suetonius gives the Latin version, iacta alea est, although according to Plutarch's Parallel Lives, Caesar quoted a line from the playwright Menander: anerriphthô kubos, or 'let the die be cast'. Suetonius' subtly different translation is often misquoted as alea iacta est.
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Rubicon is a town located in Dodge County, Wisconsin. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 2,005.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Rubicon."
Synonym: RubiconSynonym: point of no return (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Beginning | Handsel; take the first step, lay the first stone, cut the first turf; break ground, break the ice, break cover; pass the Rubicon, cross the Rubicon; open fire, open the ball; ventilate, air; undertake. |
Choice | Take a decided step, take a decisive step; commit oneself to a course; pass the Rubicon, cross the Rubicon; cast in one's lot with; take for better or for worse. |
Limit | Ircumvallation; pillars of Hercules; Rubicon, turning point; ne plus ultra; sluice, floodgate. |
Transcursion | Encroach, trespass, infringe, trench upon, entrench on, intrench on; strain; stretch a point, strain a point; cross the Rubicon. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Rubicon |
| Non-English Usage: "Rubicon" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Dutch (Rubicon), French (Rubicon). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | To Cross the Rubicon (1991) Etter Rubicon (1987) | |
Song Titles | I'm Gonna Take Care of Everything (performing artist: Rubicon) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Theater & Movies | |||
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
John Adams | The die was now cast; I had passed the Rubicon. Swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my country was my unalterable determination. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| "Rubicon" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Rubicon" is used about 10 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 10 | 111,207 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
1. Rubicon, WI |
Expressions using "Rubicon": cross the rubicon ♦ pass the rubicon. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "Rubicon": rubicon-crossing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "Rubicon"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | вземам окончателно решение (pass the rubicon), правя решителна крачка (pass the rubicon, take the plunge). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | Rubicon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | Rubikono. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | Rubicon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | rubikon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | rubicon folyó. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ubiconray Rubicão. (various references) рубикон. (various references) preći rubikon (rubicon: pass the rubicon). (various references) dönüşü olmayan bir şey yapmak (cross the rubicon, pass the rubicon). (various references) giới hạn khi đã vượt qua thì coi như l quyết định không lùi lại được nữa, bước quyết định (turning-point). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Rubicon" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Dubuisson, Lubicon, Orbicom, Robichon, Robuchon, Rubashon, Rubisco, Rubusana, Ruzici, Rybakov, Urbco. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "Rubicon" (pronounced 'Ru"bi*con'): Archdeacon, Bacon, Balcon, Barcon, Basilicon, Buscon, Catholicon, Flacon, Gascon, Gentile-falcon, gyrfalcon, helicon, lexicon, Monasticon, Onomasticon, Panopticon, Panpharmacon, Pantechnicon, Parelcon, Pharmacon, Rincon, Salpicon, Sciopticon, silicon, Stereopticon, Subdeacon, Synonymicon, Tyrotoxicon, Zircon. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-c-i-n-o-r-u" | |
-1 letter: bicorn, bicron, brucin. | |
-2 letters: boric, bourn, bronc, bruin, bunco, burin, cornu, curio, incur, orcin, robin, runic. | |
-3 letters: born, brin, brio, burn, cion, coin, coir, coni, corn, crib, curb, curn, icon, inro, iron, noir, nori, ruin, unci, unco, uric. | |
-4 letters: bin, bio, bro, bun, bur, cob, con, cor, cub, cur, ion, nib, nob, nor, nub. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-c-i-n-o-r-u" | |
+1 letter: bouncier. | |
+2 letters: binocular, bronchium, colubrine, incubator, obscuring, submicron. | |
+3 letters: bescouring, binoculars, buccinator, contribute, counterbid, incubators, incubatory. | |
+4 letters: bifurcation, binocularly, buccinators, carburetion, contributed, contributes, contributor, conurbation, counterbids, doxorubicin, lubrication, lucubration, multicarbon, obscurantic, obscuration, obstructing, obstruction, rubrication, subtraction. | |
+5 letters: bifurcations, binocularity, carburetions, contributing, contribution, contributive, contributors, contributory, conurbations, currycombing, daunorubicin, doxorubicins, elucubration, lubrications, lucubrations, obscurantism, obscurantist, obscurations, obstructions, rambunctious, ribonuclease, rubrications, subarachnoid, subscription, subtractions, tubocurarine. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)52 75 62 69 63 6F 6E |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).-. ..- -... .. -.-. --- -. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010010 01110101 01100010 01101001 01100011 01101111 01101110 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)R u b i c o n |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0052 0075 0062 0069 0063 006F 006E |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)52876875698180 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Usage Frequency 8. Cities | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Orthography 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| Note to the press & webmasters - this dictionary can be linked, indexed, or referred to using the following non-English expressions: woordeboek, fjalor, معجم, قاموس, diccionariu, речник, diccionari, diksyonario, diksinario, 字典, gérlyver, slovník, ordbog, woordenboek, shimiyuc p'anca, orðabók, orðbók, dictionnaire, wurdboek, wörterbuch, λεξικό, אוצר מילים, szótár, uqausiit tukingit, dizionario, 字引 , じい, じびき, じて", ディクショナリー , じり", じしょ, '"かい, ディクショナリ , 사 , dizionari, recnik, fockleyr, dikshonario, słownik, dicionário, dicţionar, dicziunari, словарь, lolomi fefiloi, foclair, abardair, faclair, briathrachan, pukuntau, leksikon, rečnik, vocabbulariu, diccionario, sí-chazamagâma, ordbok, lexikon, พจนานุกรม, sözlük, ansiklopedik sözlük, словник, довідник, có tính chất sách vở, geirlyfr, geiriadur, for dictionary; definisie, qartësi, përcaktim, saktësi, الوضوحية في الشيء, حد, تحديد, تعريف, التحديد, الإيضاحية, яснота, сила, очертания, дефиниция, 定義 , 定义, definice, deskriptordefinition, definitie, määritelmä, définition, ορισμός, "'"ר", "'בל", meghatározás, definíció, definizione, 確定 , ディーゼル電気車 , デ'ドロ酢酸 , デフィニション , ディフィニション , ていぎ, かくてい, 의, geyrid, meenaghey, keeayllaght, baght, definishon, definição, definiţie, determinare, definire, определение, definicija, definición, definition, açıklama, belirleme, belirtme, kesinleştirme, tanım, tarif, seçiklik, tanımlama, чіткість, тлумачення, виразність, визначення, дефініція, ясність, чітка чутність, sự định rõ, sự định nghĩa, lời định nghĩa sự định, diffiniad, darnodiad, for definition; vertaling, transferim, transmetim, ترجمة من لغة أجنبية للغة الأم, ترجمة, إفتتان, транслация, огъване, превод, предаване, поддаване, тълкуване, превеждане, 翻译, překlad, oversættelse, translatie, taajuusmuutos, translaatio, traduction, oersetting, Übersetzung, μετάφραση, תור'מ ות, תר'ום, "עתק", "עתק, fordítás, traduzione, 翻訳 , へい"ういどう, やくしょ, やくしゅつ, "うどく, ほ"やく, トランスレーション , やくじゅつ, ほ"やくしょ, 번역, tradukshon, tradução, translaţie, tãlmãcire, traducere, сдвиг, трансляция, перемещение, перевод, tumačenje, traducción, översättning, tercüme, процес перекладу, переклад, пояснення, переміщення, sự dịch, sự biến th nh sự giải thích, trosiad, for translation; Bulgaars, Bulgaar, bulgr, البلغارية, بلغاري, Búlgaru, български, български език, българин, Bulgaryan, 保 利亚, bulharský, bulgarer, bulgarskt, bulgarialainen, Bulgaarsk, bulgare, 'ούλγαρος, bullgar, bolgár, bulgaro, 불가리아, Bulgeyragh, Bulgeyrish, Bułgar, болгарский, болгарин, bugarski jezik, bugarski, bugarka, bugarin, búlgaro, bulgar, bulgaristan ile ilgili, болгарський, người Bun-ga-ri tiếng Bun-ga-ri, for Bulgarian; Nederlands, Hollands, holandez, هولندي, اللغة الهولندية, холандски, немски език, холандски език, холандците, немски, Olandes, 菏蘭語 , 荷兰语, holandský, nizozemský, hollandsk, hollendskt, hollantilainen, néerlandais, Nederlânsk, holländisch, ολλανδικόσ, ολλανδόσ, holandisht, "ול "י, holland, hollenskur, Ollainnis, olandese, 네덜란", Belanda, Ollanish, Germaanish, Tatimana, nederlandsk, ulandes, hulandes, holandês, neerlandés, olandez, nemţesc, limba olandezã, german, голландский, holanđanin, u škripcu, holandski, holandés, bakratongo, holländsk, ชาวเนเธอร์แลน"์, เกี่ยวกับเนเธอร์แลน"์, รรยา, alman, eş, flemenkçe, holandaca, hollanda, karı, hollandalı, hollandalılara özgü olan, Hollandali, hollanda'ya ait, голландська мова, голландський, ngôn ngữ khó hiểu, "b xã", for Dutch; الاسبرانتو لغة دولية, Esperantu, есперанто, 世界语, esperanton, espéranto, εσπεράντο, אספר טו, eszperanto, eszperantó, エスキモー犬 , エスペラント , эсперанто, Eseperano, esperanto, Kiesperanto, าษาที่ประ"ิษฐ์ขึ้นเพื่อใช้เป็น าษากลางในการสื่อสารระหว่างประเทศ ซึ่งรากศัพท์ส่วนใหญ่, esperanto dili, tiếng etperantô, for esperanto; Franse taal, Frans, franceze, francez, frëngjisht, frëng, frëngjishte, فرنسي, اللغة الفرنسية, الشعب الفرنسي, gall, френски език, френски, Pranses, 法國 , 法文 , 法語 , 法语, francouzština, francouzský, franskur, franskt, ranskalainen, français, Frânsk, französisch, γάλλοσ, γαλλικόσ, γαλλική γλώσσα, γαλλίδα, צרפתי, צרפתית, francia, Fraincis, francese, フレコン化 , フランス" , 仏文 , 仏 , ふつぶ", フレンチ , フランセ , ふつ, "랑스, Perancis, Ny Frangee, Mooinjey ny Frank, frances, franses, francês, francezii, francezã, franţuzesc, franţuzeşte, французский, Falani, francuski jezik, francuski, francuzi, francés, sí-Fulentji, fransk, franska, fransızca, Fransiz, fransızca ile ilgili, fransız, fransa ile ilgili, французька мова, французький, Ffrengig, isiFulentshi, for French; Duits, Duitser, Duitse taal, Germaan, gjerman, ضرب من الرقص, جرماني, المانية, الماني, اللغة الألمانية, роден, германски, немски език, немски, немец, готически, германец, 德語 , 德语, 德文 , 德國 , nìmecký, nìmec, tysker, Duitse, týskur, týskt, týskari, saksalainen, Allemand, Dútsk, Deutsche, Deutsch, "ερμανός, gjermanisht, 'רמ י, 'רמ ית, német, þjóðverji, þýskur, GearmÚnach, GearmÚinis, tedesco, ジプシー音楽 , ジャーマン , 독일, todesch, Germaanagh, Garmane, Germaanish, Carmane, aleman, Niemiec, niemiecki, alemão, alemand, neamţ, немецкий, Siamani, germanski, alemán, Tudesku, Doysri, mjeremani, mdachi, sí-Jalimáne, tysk, เยอรมัน, าษาเยอรมัน, Alman, німкеня, німецький, німець, $sisters german$ chị em ruột, $cousin german$ anh chị em con chú bác ruột, sister, Almaenwr, isiJalimane, iliJalimane, iJalimane, for German; Hongaars, Hongaar, hungarez, الهنغاري, مجري, هنغاري, المجري, اللغة الهنغارية, Húngaru, унгарски език, унгарски, унгарец, Hungaryan, 匈牙利語 , 匈牙利语, maïarský, maïar, maïarština, ungarer, Hongaarse, ungarskt, unkarilainen, hongrois, Hongaarsk, ungar, Ούγγρος, "ו 'רי, magyar, ungherese, 헝가리, Ungaarish, Ungaaragh, Węgier, ongrés, ungureşte, ungur, limba maghiarã, unguresc, maghiar, limba ungarã, венгр, венгерский, mađarski, mađar, mađarski jezik, húngaro, ungrare, ชาวฮังการี, macarca, macar, угорська мова, угорка, угорський, угорець, người Hung-ga-ri tiếng Hung-ga-ri, for Hungarian; Portugees, portugez, portugalisht, اللغة البرتغالية, البرتغالية, البرتغالي, португалски език, португалски, португалец, Potuges, 葡萄牙语, 葡萄牙人 , 葡萄牙語 , portugalský, portugiser, portugisiskt, portugalilainen, portugais, Portugeesk, portugiesisch, πορτογάλοσ, ορτογάλος, portugál, Portaingéilis, portoghese, ポルトガル語 , ポルトガル", 포르투갈, Portiugish, Portiugagh, portugues, Portugalczyk, português, portughez, португальский, portugalski jezik, portugalski, portugalac, portugués, Mreno, si-Putúkezi, portugis, portekiz, Portekízlí, portekizli, portekizce, португальська мова, португальський, португалець, người B"-đ o-nha tiếng B"-đ o-nha, for Portuguese; Russies, Rus, الروسية, روسي, اللغة الروسية, Rusu, руски, руски език, руснак, Rusyan, 俄語 , 俄语, 俄文 , ruština, ruský, russer, russur, russiskt, venäläinen, Russysk, Russe, russisch, Ρώσος, רוסי, orosz, rússneskur, Rússi, Rúisis, russo, ロシア語 , ロシア", 러시아, Rooshish, Rooshagh, russisk, Rosjanin, русский, Lusia, ruski jezik, ruski, ruso, sí-Rashîya, ryss, ชาวรัสเซีย, rusça, росіянка, росіянин, російська мова, російський, người Nga tiếng Nga, for Russian; 塞爾維亞克羅地亞語 , 塞"维亚-克罗地亚语, serbokroatisch, 세르보크로아티아, servo-croata, sârbo-croat, srpsko-hrvatski, srpsko-hrvatski jezik, serbokroatiska, serbokroatisk, เกี่ยวกับ าษาเซอร์เบียและโครเอเชีย, าษาหลักของชาวเซอร์เบียและโครเอเชีย, for Serbo-Croatian; Turks, turk, تركي أحد أبناء تركيا, اللغة التركية, Turcu, турски, турски език, Turko, 土耳其, 土耳其語 , tureètina, turecký, turkist, turkkilainen, turque, turc, Turksk, türkisch, τούρκικοσ, טורקי, török, Yn Turkish, Turkagh, turcesc, турецкий, turski jezik, turski, turco, turkisk, türk, türkçe, турецька мова, турецький, tiếng Thổ nhĩ kỳ, for Turkish; Vietnamees, vietnamez, vietnamisht, виетнамски език, виетнамски, Vietnamis, 越南語 , 越南 , 越南语, vietnamský, vietnamka, vietnamec, vietnamština, vietnameser, vjetmanskt, vietnamilainen, vietnamien, Fjetnameesk, vietnamese, vietnamesisch, Vietnamesin, 'ιετναμέζος, vietnami, vietnámi, ベトナ 人 , ベトナ じ", 트남, vietnamita, вьетнамский, vijetnamski jezik, vijetnamski, vijetnamac, vietnames, vietnam, vietnamlı, vietnam dili, в'"тнамець, в'"тнамський, người Việt nam tiếng Việt, for Vietnamese; |
