Word.ws English Dictionary

rubegoldbergian

UK/ɹuːbɡəʊldˈbəːɡɪən/

rubegoldbergian adjective: achieving a simple objective by absurdly complicated means; overcomplicated, elaborate and impractical.

Adjective

rubegoldbergian (comparative more rubegoldbergian, superlative most rubegoldbergian)

  1. (Canada, US) Achieving a simple objective by absurdly complicated means; overcomplicated, elaborate and impractical.
    • The machinery of government is often rubegoldbergian, with complex arrangements of devolution and special status and power-sharing and affirmative action, and the contraption is held together by a few national symbols such as a rugby team.2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 633

Synonyms of rubegoldbergian

Forms of rubegoldbergian

comparativemore rubegoldbergian
superlativemost rubegoldbergian
alternative formRube Goldbergian

Origin of rubegoldbergian

From Rube Goldberg + -ian.

Questions about rubegoldbergian

What does rubegoldbergian mean?
Rubegoldbergian means achieving a simple objective by absurdly complicated means; overcomplicated, elaborate and impractical.
What part of speech is rubegoldbergian?
Rubegoldbergian is an adjective.
How do you pronounce rubegoldbergian?
Rubegoldbergian is pronounced /ɹuːbɡəʊldˈbəːɡɪən/ (UK).

Words near rubegoldbergian in the dictionary

  1. rubefactions
  2. rubefied
  3. rubefies
  4. rubefy
  5. rubefying
  6. rubegoldbergian
  7. rubel
  8. rubelet
  9. rubelets
  10. rubelike
  11. rubella

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubegoldbergian (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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Cite this entry: “rubegoldbergian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rubegoldbergian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.