die is cast, the

1. The decision or course of action has been determined and cannot be changed. For example, Now that I've announced my resignation, the die is cast. This expression comes from the Latin Iacta alea est, “the dice have been thrown,” which according to Suetonius was said by Julius Caesar when he crossed the Rubicon and invaded Italy in 49 b.c. In English it dates from the first half of the 1600s.

Example Sentences

The die is cast, the secret is out.

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But the die is cast; the decision long made.

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And then comes the conclusion to which all this has been tending: “the die is cast”—the Iliad and Odyssey cannot have been composed in the form in which we know them without the aid of writing.

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Then be it so!" said she; "the die is cast, the issue of it stands not with me!

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Dice′-play; Dice′-play′er, Dī′cer; Dī′cing-house.—The die is cast, the question is decided.

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