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

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪɡə(ɹ)/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɡə(ɹ)
• Homophones: rigor, rigger

Noun

rigour (countable and uncountable, plural rigours)

1. 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.

2. Harshness, as of climate.
3. A trembling or shivering response.
4. Character of being unyielding or inflexible.
5. Shrewd questioning.
6. Higher level of difficulty. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
7. (Britain) Misspelling of rigor (“rigor mortis”).

Related terms

• rigid
• rigorous
• rigorousness

Translations

a harsh or severe experience

• Finnish: ankaruus (fi), tiukkuus (fi)

• Norwegian: vigor m
• Romanian: severitate (ro) f, rigoare (ro) f

trembling or shivering response

character of being unyielding or inflexible

• Finnish: joustamattomuus
• French: rigueur (fr) f

• Romanian: rigurozitate (ro) f, fermitate (ro) f

an abbreviated form of rigor mortis

shrewd questioning

higher level of difficulty

• Finnish: vaikeus (fi)
• Portuguese: rigor (pt) m

• Romanian: asprime (ro) f, severitate (ro) f

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

• French: ^{(please verify)} rigueur (fr) f
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} rigore (it) m

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} rigor (sh) m

Further reading

• rigour in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• rigour in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911