rig
Americanverb (used with object)
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rigs,
present (3rd person singular)
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rigged,
past participle, past
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rigging
present participle
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Chiefly Nautical.
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to put in proper order for working or use.
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to fit (a ship, mast, etc.) with the necessary shrouds, stays, etc.
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to fit (shrouds, stays, sails, etc.) to the mast, yard, or the like.
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to manipulate fraudulently.
Two leading companies in the industry were fined for rigging prices.
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to assemble, install, or prepare (often followed byup ).
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to furnish or provide with equipment, clothing, etc.; fit (usually followed by out orup ).
The ground crew rigged us out in leather helmets and bomber jackets.
noun
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rigs
plural
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the arrangement of the masts, spars, sails, etc., on a boat or ship.
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apparatus for some purpose; equipment; outfit; gear.
Bring your rod and reel and all the rest of your fishing rig.
This other PC over here is my main gaming rig.
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Also called drill rig. the equipment used in drilling an oil well.
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any combination trucking unit in which vehicles are hooked together, as a tractor-trailer.
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any kind of truck.
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a carriage, buckboard, sulky, or wagon together with the horse or horses that draw it.
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Informal. costume or dress, especially when odd or conspicuous, or when designated for a particular purpose.
He looks quite nifty in a butler's rig.
verb phrase
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rig up to equip or set up for use.
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rig down to place in an inactive state, stowing all lines, tackles, and other removable parts.
verb
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nautical to equip (a vessel, mast, etc) with (sails, rigging, etc)
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nautical to set up or prepare ready for use
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to put the components of (an aircraft, etc) into their correct positions
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to manipulate in a fraudulent manner, esp for profit
to rig prices
to rig an election
noun
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nautical the distinctive arrangement of the sails, masts, and other spars of a vessel
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In full: drilling rig. the installation used in drilling for and exploiting natural oil and gas deposits
an oil rig
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apparatus or equipment; gear
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an amateur radio operator's transmitting and receiving set
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a carriage together with one or more horses
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an articulated lorry
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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rigsimple
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rigssimple
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have riggedperfect
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has riggedperfect
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am riggingprogressive
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are riggingprogressive
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is riggingprogressive
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have been riggingperfect progressive
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has been riggingperfect progressive
Past
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riggedsimple
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had riggedperfect
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was riggingprogressive
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were riggingprogressive
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had been riggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rig
First recorded in 1480–90; 1930–35 rig for def. 2; probably from Scandinavian; compare Norwegian, Swedish rigg (noun), rigga (verb)
Explanation
When you rig something, you connect parts in a way that's so crazy it just might work. You could rig your jeans by using a paper clip to replace a button that pops. Rig can also describe deceiving people to achieve a certain outcome. Voting multiple times, purposely miscounting the number of votes a person received, even throwing out certain people's votes: these are all ways to rig an election. Outraged people say, "The election was fixed!" This doesn't mean it was repaired; it means it was rigged — fraud played a role in the outcome.
Vocabulary lists containing rig
Fear and Loathing in Cleveland: Trump's RNC Acceptance Speech
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Song for a Whale
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"The Flying Machine" by Ray Bradbury
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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.
See Examples For:
They noted that a nearby oil rig, Platform Grace, has already ceased operating due to declining production and is now being decommissioned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Simon Wallace became an avid follower of online astrophotographers while he was off work during Covid and now has a fully-automated rig at his home near Stowmarket, Suffolk.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
The rig count has risen in nine of the 10 past weeks as higher crude oil prices encourage drilling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
Find insight on crude futures, oil rig counts, European energy companies and more in the latest Market Talks covering energy and utilities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Somebody was wanted to feed lumber into the rig to prove how rugged these new steel models were.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Find insight on oil futures, SLB, oil rigs and more in the latest Market Talks covering Energy and Utilities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
This spring, Sable restarted the use of its pipelines and offshore oil rigs after the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Trucks hauled parts for drilling rigs along gravel roads crossed by caribou.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
The agency partnered with a company in Texas to use their water cannons — which are typically used on burning oil rigs — to bring them to Southern California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
Gale’s convinced the Capitol does it on purpose, rigs the drawings to add extra drama.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
And there shouldn’t be such an obvious and geographically rigged hierarchy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
That old rigged coin has long come into play against them: heads they lose, tails they also lose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
The president’s son was accused by his own former business partner of asking a UFC commentator whether Sunday’s fights were rigged and whether he should place a bet on the opening bout.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
Mangione has been hailed in some quarters of the internet as a latter-day Robin Hood, fighting against a rigged system on behalf of working people.
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
Ren’s new track, to activate the rigged Artifacts.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
With its tar-soaked rigging, creaking oak deck and 50 spruce oars, Draken Harald Harfagre is the largest modern replica of a Viking ship.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
To create the sequence, Nolan’s team built a sort of silo on the beach, rigging it with minuscule LED lights to mimic sunlight leaking through chinks in the horse’s hull.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Except for when passengers, after taking turns at rigging, filed below deck to explore the ship’s white-oak skeleton, which flexed and creaked in the current—the ancient sounds of a seafaring world that’s all but lost.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Other high-profile figures who had previously been indicted on separate cases of stock rigging include Samsung chairman Lee Jae-yong, Kakao founder Kim Beom-su, and former first lady Kim Keon-hee.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026
Zeitoun discovered that one of his carpenters, James Crosso, was still in the city, so the two of them spent the day driving around, rigging the houses on the list.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
