rigmarole

English

WOTD – 6 January 2007

Alternative forms

• rigamarole

Etymology

From ragman roll (“long list; catalogue”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪɡməɹəʊl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪɡməɹoʊl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

rigmarole (countable and uncountable, plural rigmaroles)

1. A long and complicated procedure that seems tiresome or pointless; seemingly unnecessary hoops.

   Synonyms: carry-on, circus act, palaver, riddle me ree

   Have you seen all the rigmarole you have to go through at airport security these days?

2. Nonsense; confused and incoherent talk.

   Synonyms: babble, blather, gibberish; see also Thesaurus:nonsense

   • 1847, Thomas De Quincey, “Secret Societies”, in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine:

     Often one's dear friend talks something which one scruples to call rigmarole.

   • 1854, Henry David Thoreau, chapter VII, in Walden:

     While you are planting the seed, he cries -- "Drop it, drop it -- cover it up, cover it up -- pull it up, pull it up, pull it up." But this was not corn, and so it was safe from such enemies as he. You may wonder what his rigmarole, his amateur Paganini performances on one string or on twenty, have to do with your planting, and yet prefer it to leached ashes or plaster.

   • 1880, Rosina Bulwer Lytton, A Blighted Life, sxn 4:

     His reply did not even allude to the subject, but was a rigmarole about the weather; as if he had been writing to an idiot, who did not require a rational answer to any question they had asked.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 250:

     "Stuff and nonsense, and lying rigmaroles!" he growled, as I vanished through the door[.]

   • 1895, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter XIX, in The Valima Letters:

     In comes Mitaiele to Lloyd, and told some rigmarole about Paatalise (the steward's name) wanting to go and see his family in the bush.

   • 1910, A. E. W. Mason, chapter XVII, in At the Villa Rose:

     "Quite so," said Adèle comfortably. "Now let us be sensible and dine. We can amuse ourselves with mademoiselle's rigmaroles afterwards."

   • 1915, John Buchan, chapter 1, in The Thirty-Nine Steps:

     He seemed to brace himself for a great effort, and then started on the queerest rigmarole.

Translations

long and complicated procedure

• Finnish: ruljanssi (fi)
• French: imbroglio (fr)
• German: Theater (de) n, Zirkus (de) m, Brimborium (de) n
• Italian: trafila (it) f, tiritera (it) f
• Russian: каните́ль (ru) f (kanitélʹ), волоки́та (ru) f (volokíta)
• Spanish: embrollo (es) m

nonsense talk

• Bulgarian: празни приказки (prazni prikazki)
• Dutch: gezwets (nl)
• French: charabia (fr) m
• German: Geschwätz (de) n, Palaver (de) n
• Italian: tiritera (it) f, sproloquio (it) m
• Russian: вздор (ru) m (vzdor), брехня́ (ru) f (brexnjá)

Adjective

rigmarole

1. Prolix; tedious.

   Synonyms: long-winded, palaverous; see also Thesaurus:verbose, Thesaurus:wearisome

   • 1838 September 14, Charles Darwin, To Charles Lyell; republished as “Letter no. 428”, in Darwin Correspondence Project‎^[1], University of Cambridge, 2023, retrieved 23 May 2024:

     This is a most rigmarole letter, for after each sentence, I take breath […]

   • 1886, “The Nation's Progress”, in Albion and Ierne, London: Marcus Ward & Company, page 133:

     "This officer has ended at last," said the Prime Minister. "Another story of calamity, and told in a very rigmarole way, I must confess; but he never can shorten his reports by only inserting the weighty matter. 'Reports annexed,' indeed!—yes, six of them; and underneath sixteen other reports—all, no doubt, much in the same strain."

Further reading

• “rigmarole”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.