rigmarole
noun
Cliff BallingerMary SanchezTristan HopperTim ParksLaura HancockMegan ScottAlice MunroHenry David ThoreauLouisa May Alcott
Did you know?
In the Middle Ages, the term Rageman or Ragman referred to a game in which a player randomly selected a string attached to a roll of verses and read the selected verse. The roll was called a Ragman roll after a fictional king purported to be the author of the verses. By the 16th century, ragman and ragman roll were being used figuratively to mean "a list or catalog." Both terms fell out of written use, but ragman roll persisted in speech, and in the 18th century it resurfaced in writing as rigmarole, with the meaning "a succession of confused, meaningless, or foolish statements." In the mid-19th century rigmarole (also spelled rigamarole, reflecting its common pronunciation) acquired the sense referring to a complex and ritualistic procedure.
Synonyms
Examples of rigmarole in a Sentence
Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 22 July 2024
Last season’s nail-biting seven-game battle was famously known as the I-80 series because both teams opted for the approximately 90-minute (depending on traffic) bus ride rather than the rigmarole of a short flight.
—Joe Rubin, Sacramento Bee, 16 Apr. 2024
The comments follow a year in which the initial fanfare surrounding the IRA has been tempered by the administrative rigmarole of trying to channel billions into the real economy.
—Natasha White, Fortune, 14 Jan. 2024
Such a rigmarole — there’s the extra time needed, not to mention the dishes — seems unthinkable for the busiest/laziest of us.
—Emily Heil, Washington Post, 3 Nov. 2023
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Dictionary Entries Near rigmarole
Cite this Entry
“Rigmarole.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rigmarole. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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