rigmarole
/ˈɹɪɡməɹəʊl/
"rigmarole" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rigmarole” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A long and complicated formal procedure.
Corpus desk
Index EN-rigmarole · rigmarole · English
rigmarole · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rigmarole |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹɪɡməɹəʊl/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “rigmarole” in English
Rare enough to double-check
rigmarole is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɹɪɡməɹəʊl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
rigmarole doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From ragman roll (“long list; catalogue”). Recorded since c1736. The correct English form is rigmarole, spelled R-I-G-M-A-R-O-L-E.
Definition
- 1A long and complicated formal procedure.
- 2Confused and incoherent talk; nonsense.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how rigmarole appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Have you seen all the rigmarole you have to go through at airport security these days?
Often one's dear friend talks something which one scruples to call rigmarole.
Etymology
From ragman roll (“long list; catalogue”). Recorded since c1736.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.