Heath Robinsonian

English

Etymology

From Heath Robinson +‎ -an.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /hiːθɹɒbɪnˈsəʊnɪən/

Adjective

Heath Robinsonian (comparative more Heath Robinsonian, superlative most Heath Robinsonian)

1. Elaborate and impractical.
   • 2011, Laurie R. King, Pirate King:

     Later, when I was not in quite such a vulnerable position, I decided that it was a ridiculously convoluted, Heath Robinsonian piece of machinery, a bit much even for Mycroft.

   • 2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 127:

     In the eyes of the anti-Bismarck fronde, the chancellor's remarkable web of transcontinental commitments looked less like a system than a creaking Heath-Robinsonian contraption, a flimsy joist-work of ‘plasters and patches’ designed to avoid the pressing choices that confronted the German Empire in an increasingly dangerous world.