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Rube Goldberg machines

Rube Goldberg machines is the plural of Rube Goldberg machine.

Meaning of Rube Goldberg machine

Noun

Rube Goldberg machine (plural Rube Goldberg machines)

  1. (Canada, US) A comical, overcomplicated machine which performs a simple task.
    Synonyms:
    Heath Robinson
  2. (broadly) Anything that is overly complicated.
    • To be overly cynical myself, that is still the macro view. Littlefinger’s execution and the white walkers passing through the rubble of the Wall are just two observations that this enormous Rube Goldberg machine is running on time.2017 August 27, Brandon Nowalk, “Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club

Questions about Rube Goldberg machines

What is Rube Goldberg machines the plural of?
Rube Goldberg machines is the plural of Rube Goldberg machine.

Words near Rube Goldberg machines in the dictionary

  1. rubdown
  2. rubdowns
  3. rube
  4. Rube Goldberg
  5. Rube Goldberg machine
  6. Rube Goldberg machines
  7. Rube Goldbergian
  8. Rube Goldbergs
  9. rubeanic
  10. rubeanic acid
  11. Rubeck

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Rube Goldberg machines (page history and authors); Rube Goldberg machine (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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