variants also rigamarole
as in gobbledegook
language marked by abstractions, jargon, euphemisms, and circumlocutions the security guard gave me some kind of rigmarole about passes and authorizations

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of rigmarole The bust was followed by months of prolonged legal rigmarole. John Semley, Rolling Stone, 19 Apr. 2025 Editors’ Picks Our Favorite Bathrooms Kermit has been through the graduation rigmarole before. Callie Holtermann, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025 But not as weird as the rigmarole of the music industry. Justin Curto, Vulture, 26 Mar. 2025 Is there a company that prides itself on an absence of rigmarole? Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 22 July 2024 See All Example Sentences for rigmarole
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rigmarole
Noun
  • Bob Kring DeBary Congressional bill is full of greed The Great Big Beautiful Bill reads like 950 pages of of gobbledygook distilled into four words: Greedy, stingy, mean and short-sighted.
    Letters to the Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 2 July 2025
  • The six-episode limited series feels like a long movie broken into arbitrary episodes, its ending is mired by digital gobbledygook, and Marvel still doesn’t know how magic makes sense in a universe ruled by advanced technology and literal gods.
    Ben Travers, IndieWire, 24 June 2025
Noun
  • Her Bluesky feed in the hours after Kirk’s murder was filled with inflammatory rhetoric.
    Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 16 Sep. 2025
  • While detailing the first in-person meeting between her and Rodríguez, Pascal spoke about the specific rhetoric that trans actors sometimes come up against, which is that trans actors should connect with trans subjects based solely on identity, rather than the many other aspects of their humanity.
    Mathew Rodriguez, Them., 15 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • My last thought, here, beware of the endless gibberish about the hazards of rotations.
    Jim Cramer, CNBC, 24 Aug. 2025
  • Her toddler, who was almost two, leaned over the railing and called out to the agents in baby gibberish, but the agents did not acknowledge her.
    Jordan Salama, New Yorker, 25 July 2025
Noun
  • Of course, football fans must wait 18 weeks to see what's legitimate or not, but fantasy football expert Matthew Berry is sounding the alarm on one team and buying into the hype of another.
    Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 14 Sep. 2025
  • The bundle will be available soon on October 2, 2025, undoubtedly engineered to start the hype train for an imminent Super Mario Galaxy movie, which is due in 2026.
    Mitch Wallace, Forbes.com, 13 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Driving the news: The statement was published only in English on the Facebook page of the Israeli Prime Minister's Office — potentially another case of double-talk by Netanyahu.
    Barak Ravid, Axios, 27 Sep. 2024
  • The GOP Senate candidate in Arizona, whose brand is a combative, never-back-down MAGA politics, has adopted a position on the issue that is nearly indistinguishable from that of double-talking Democrats.
    Rich Lowry, National Review, 14 Apr. 2024
Noun
  • And the bizarre song and dance numbers, for all their anachronism, pull us in further.
    Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2025
  • As in a more straightforward musical, the Shakers are using song and dance to express a range of feelings that plainspoken words couldn’t hope to convey.
    David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 1 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Rigmarole.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rigmarole. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.

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