Word of the Day

: August 21, 2026

rigmarole

noun RIG-uh-muh-rol

What It Means

Rigmarole refers to a long, complicated, and annoying process, description, etc.

// We went through the rigmarole of installing, registering, and activating the software before we found out it wouldn’t work.

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rigmarole in Context

“Over the last 10 years or so, I’ve had an on-again, off-again relationship with running. On the one hand, I love it for the mental benefits. My mind always feels clearer after a run and it can be an escape from the rigmarole of life. But on the other hand, it seems that every few years, some mild injury befalls me that slows my momentum, or I move to a new city and lose the routine of running at a time and place.” — Maura Fox, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Sept. 2025

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 tedious procedure.