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 Of course, there’s a lot more rigmarole involved when selling on the secondary market, including sellers’ fees, but that gap between the valuations is wide. Janhoi McGregor, Forbes.com, 2 Apr. 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 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 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
  • Trump ordered some 450 federal agents to patrol the nation's capital and target crime on Aug. 9 and 10 amid his escalating rhetoric condemning violent crime in the city.
    Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Celina Stewart, the CEO of the League of Women Voters, agreed, telling Glamour that this sort of rhetoric should be treated seriously.
    Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 12 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • 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
  • That's largely thanks to a winning voice-acting performance that forms the basis for some toe-tapping gibberish playing behind DK's Bananza transformations.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 16 July 2025
Noun
  • Even Wall Street, which lately has been drunk on a cocktail of AI hype and rate-cut anticipation, briefly sobered up to take in the Thursday wholesale report.
    Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 15 Aug. 2025
  • Her 14 Grammys, billion-dollar tours, and songwriting depth reflect genuine talent amid hype.
    Marni Rose McFall, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Aug. 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
  • In early colonial times, churches had strict guidelines on music, song and dance.
    Kaitlyn Keegan, Hartford Courant, 19 July 2025
  • It’s got the big song and dance numbers, it’s got fun characters, it’s got magic tricks.
    David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Rigmarole.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rigmarole. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.

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