cross the Rubicon en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
Refers to Julius Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon to wage civil war with Rome, on January 10, 49 BCE, in violation of law. Suetonius' use of the phrase the die is cast in describing this act popularized the use of that phrase, which was first attributed to the Greek dramatist Menander.
Meanings
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(idiomatic) To make an irreversible decision or to take an action with consequences.
When the inevitable moment arrives to cross the romantic Rubicon in “Ticket to Paradise,” the machinery of the screenplay and the far-fetched nature of the moment don’t matter — they can just look at each other and sell it.
2022 October 21, Jason Bailey, “How George Clooney and Julia Roberts Quietly Became the Tracy-Hepburn of Our Time”, in The New York Times:Britain will cross a “legal and ethical Rubicon” if parliament votes to permit terminally ill patients to end their lives, said the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as leaders of all the UK’s major faith groups call on MPs to reject plans to allow assisted suicide.
2015 September 5, Toby Helm, quoting Justin Welby, “Welby urges MPs: reject right-to-die bill that ‘crosses the Rubicon’”, in The Observer, →ISSN:Having crossed the Rubicon, we can't go back. The impact of this transition is underlined by the fact that, despite our long evolutionary history as foragers, we generally can't survive by hunting and gathering when we have been stripped of that relevant culturally acquired know-how.
2016, Joseph Henrich, chapter 17, in The Secret of Our Success […] , Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN:Will China cross the Rubicon by sending its military to Hong Kong?[…] As the world contemplates whether Beijing will cross the Rubicon and use military force to quell protests in Hong Kong, one question naturally comes to mind: Would the existing garrison be used, or would tanks and soldiers, recently seen moving toward the border in nearby Shenzhen, come across from the mainland? Would they conceivably act as a combined force?
2019 August 16, Bonnie Girard, “Battle-Ready: The PLA’s Hong Kong Garrison”, in The Diplomat, archived from the original on 16 Aug 2019:With the invasion of Ukraine the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has thrown himself into the unthinkable. He has crossed the Rubicon into a time of war. He has no way back.
2022 March 9, Luuk van Middelaar, “History is brutally back, and Ukraine will test Europe’s appetite for the consequences”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:He knew that by coming out to his family he would be crossing the Rubicon, but he could not live a lie anymore.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| crosses the Rubicon | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| crossed the Rubicon | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| crossed the Rubicon | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| crossing the Rubicon | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
burn one's boats · point of no return · burn one's bridges · unmask one's batteries · the die is cast · cross the line
Translations (33)
pl przekroczyć Rubikon (to make an irreversible decision) · fi ottaa ratkaiseva askel (to make an irreversible decision) · uk перейти́ рубіко́н (to make an irreversible decision) · gl cruzar o Rubicón (to make an irreversible decision) · nl de Rubicon oversteken (to make an irreversible decision) · el περνώ τον Ρουβίκωνα (to make an irreversible decision) · es pasar el Rubicón (to make an irreversible decision) · af die Rubicon oorsteek (to make an irreversible decision) · ky Рубиконду өтүү (to make an irreversible decision) · cmn 破釜沉舟 (to make an irreversible decision) · el διαβαίνω τον Ρουβίκωνα (to make an irreversible decision) · pl przekraczać Rubikon (to make an irreversible decision) · is taka örlagaríka ákvörðun (to make an irreversible decision) · sv korsa Rubicon (to make an irreversible decision) · uk перехо́дити рубіко́н (to make an irreversible decision) · de den Rubikon überschreiten (to make an irreversible decision) · ru перейти́ Рубикон (to make an irreversible decision) · eo transiri Rubikonon (to make an irreversible decision) · sh прећи Рубикон (to make an irreversible decision) · sv gå över Rubicon (to make an irreversible decision) · fr franchir le Rubicon (to make an irreversible decision) · fi ylittää Rubicon (to make an irreversible decision) · vi phóng lao thì phải theo lao (to make an irreversible decision) · ca passar el Rubicó (to make an irreversible decision) · is brenna allar brýr að baki sér (to make an irreversible decision) · he חצה את הרוביקון (to make an irreversible decision) · pt atravessar o Rubicão (to make an irreversible decision) · uk переступа́ти рубіко́н (to make an irreversible decision) · uk переступи́ти рубіко́н (to make an irreversible decision) · fr passer le Rubicon (to make an irreversible decision) · it passare il Rubicone (to make an irreversible decision) · it il dado è tratto (to make an irreversible decision) · it bruciarsi i ponti alle spalle (to make an irreversible decision)