rigour
English
Alternative forms
- rigor (US)
Etymology
From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French rigor, from Latin rigor (“stiffness, rigidity, rigor, cold, harshness”), from rigere (“to be rigid”). Compare French rigueur.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪɡə(ɹ)
- Homophones: rigor, rigger
Noun
rigour (countable and uncountable, plural rigours)
- Severity or strictness.
- 1611, King James Version, Exodus 1:13–14:
- And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
- 1611, King James Version, Exodus 1:13–14:
- Harshness, as of climate.
- A trembling or shivering response.
- Character of being unyielding or inflexible.
- Shrewd questioning.
- Higher level of difficulty. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (Britain) Misspelling of rigor (“rigor mortis”).
Related terms
- rigid
- rigorous
- rigorousness
Translations
a harsh or severe experience
|
|
trembling or shivering response
character of being unyielding or inflexible
|
|
an abbreviated form of rigor mortis
shrewd questioning
higher level of difficulty
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
|
Further reading
- rigour in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- rigour in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.