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rube goldberg

rube Gold·berg
R r

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [roob gohld-burg]
    • /rub ˈgoʊld bɜrg/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [roob gohld-burg]
    • /rub ˈgoʊld bɜrg/

Definitions of rube goldberg words

  • adjective rube goldberg having a fantastically complicated, improvised appearance: a Rube Goldberg arrangement of flasks and test tubes. 1
  • adjective rube goldberg deviously complex and impractical: a Rube Goldberg scheme for reducing taxes. 1
  • noun rube goldberg Arthur Joseph, 1908–90, U.S. jurist, statesman, and diplomat: associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1962–65; ambassador to the U.N. 1965–68. 1
  • noun rube goldberg Reuben Lucius ("Rube") 1883–1970, U.S. cartoonist, whose work often depicts deviously complex and impractical inventions. 1
  • adjective rube goldberg doing something by unnecessarily complicated means 0
  • noun rube goldberg designating any very complicated invention, machine, scheme, etc. laboriously contrived to perform a seemingly simple operation 0
See all 6 definitions of rube goldberg

Information block about the term

Origin of rube goldberg

First appearance:

before 1955
One of the 4% newest English words
1955-60; after Rube (Reuben) Goldberg

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Rube goldberg

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Rube goldberg

rube goldberg popularity

This term is known only to a narrow circle of people with rare knowledge. Only 29% of English native speakers know the meaning of this word.
According to our data about 75% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

rube goldberg usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

See also

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