rigour

American

[rig-er] / ˈrɪg ər /

noun

Chiefly British.

a variant of rigor.

rigour British

/ ˈrɪɡə /

noun

harsh but just treatment or action
a severe or cruel circumstance; hardship

the rigours of famine
strictness, harshness, or severity of character
strictness in judgment or conduct; rigorism
maths logic logical validity or accuracy
obsolete rigidity

"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

Etymology

Origin of rigour

C14: from Latin rigor

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Rigour demands that they be weighed one by one.

From Economist • Mar. 6, 2014

Rigour grows, stiffens into horrid tyranny; Plot in the Prison getting ever riper.

From The French Revolution by Carlyle, Thomas

Rigour was past, and tenderness had not come.

From Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood by MacDonald, George

But Rigour sternly bade him forbear; for no man might know the statutes that belong to women.

From The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems by Purves, D. Laing

Should that be the Case it would disappoint the designs & naturally abate the Rigour of Administration & so the Shock might be evaded.

From The Writings of Samuel Adams - Volume 2 by Cushing, Harry Alonzo

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023