Rube Goldberg

adjective

having a fantastically complicated, improvised appearance: a Rube Goldberg arrangement of flasks and test tubes.

deviously complex and impractical: a Rube Goldberg scheme for reducing taxes.

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Also Goldbergian, Rube Goldbergian.

Origin of Rube Goldberg

1955–60; after Rube (Reuben) Goldberg

Definition for rube goldberg (2 of 2)

Goldberg

[ gohld-burg ]

/ ˈgoʊld bɜrg /

noun

Arthur Joseph,1908–90, U.S. jurist, statesman, and diplomat: associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1962–65; ambassador to the U.N. 1965–68.

Reuben LuciusRube, 1883–1970, U.S. cartoonist, whose work often depicts deviously complex and impractical inventions.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019