rigor

[ rig-er ]
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noun
  1. strictness, severity, or harshness, as in dealing with people.

  2. the full or extreme severity of laws, rules, etc.

  1. severity of living conditions; hardship; austerity: the rigor of wartime existence.

  2. a severe or harsh act, circumstance, etc.

  3. scrupulous or inflexible accuracy or adherence: the logical rigor of mathematics.

  4. severity of weather or climate or an instance of this: the rigors of winter.

  5. Pathology. a sudden coldness, as that preceding certain fevers; chill.

  6. Physiology. a state of rigidity in muscle tissues during which they are unable to respond to stimuli due to the coagulation of muscle protein.

  7. Obsolete. stiffness or rigidity.

Origin of rigor

1
1350–1400; Middle English rigour<Latin rigor stiffness, equivalent to rig(ēre) to be stiff + -or-or1
  • Also especially British, rig·our .

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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use rigor in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for rigor

rigor

/ (ˈraɪɡɔː, ˈrɪɡə) /


noun
  1. med a sudden feeling of chilliness, often accompanied by shivering: it sometimes precedes a fever

  2. (ˈrɪɡə) pathol rigidity of a muscle; muscular cramp

  1. a state of rigidity assumed by some animals in reaction to sudden shock

  2. the inertia assumed by some plants in conditions unfavourable to growth

Origin of rigor

1
see rigour

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012