Adjacent Words

rigour definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the quality of being valid and rigorous [syn: cogency, validity, rigor, rigour]
2: something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters" [syn: asperity, grimness, hardship, rigor, rigour, severity, severeness, rigorousness, rigourousness]
3: excessive sternness; "severity of character"; "the harshness of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp" [syn: severity, severeness, harshness, rigor, rigour, rigorousness, rigourousness, inclemency, hardness, stiffness]

Merriam Webster's

chiefly British variant of rigor

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (US rigor) 1 a severity, strictness, harshness. b (in pl.) harsh measures or conditions. 2 logical exactitude. 3 strict enforcement of rules etc. (the utmost rigour of the law). 4 austerity of life; puritanical discipline. Etymology: ME f. OF rigour f. L rigor (as RIGOR(1))

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rigor Rig"or, n. [OE. rigour, OF. rigour, F. rigueur, from L. rigor, fr. rigere to be stiff. See Rigid.] [Written also rigour.] 1. The becoming stiff or rigid; the state of being rigid; rigidity; stiffness; hardness. The rest his look Bound with Gorgonian rigor not to move. --Milton. 2. (Med.) See 1st Rigor, 2. 3. Severity of climate or season; inclemency; as, the rigor of the storm; the rigors of winter. 4. Stiffness of opinion or temper; rugged sternness; hardness; relentless severity; hard-heartedness; cruelty. All his rigor is turned to grief and pity. --Denham. If I shall be condemn'd Upon surmises, . . . I tell you 'T is rigor and not law. --Shak. 5. Exactness without allowance, deviation, or indulgence; strictness; as, the rigor of criticism; to execute a law with rigor; to enforce moral duties with rigor; -- opposed to lenity. 6. Severity of life; austerity; voluntary submission to pain, abstinence, or mortification. The prince lived in this convent with all the rigor and austerity of a capuchin. --Addison. 7. Violence; force; fury. [Obs.] Whose raging rigor neither steel nor brass could stay. --Spenser. Syn: Stiffness; rigidness; inflexibility; severity; austerity; sternness; harshness; strictness; exactness.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(rigours) Note: in AM, use 'rigor' 1. If you refer to the rigours of an activity or job, you mean the difficult, demanding, or unpleasant things that are associated with it. He found the rigours of the tour too demanding. N-PLURAL: usu the N of n 2. If something is done with rigour, it is done in a strict, thorough way. The new current affairs series promises to address challenging issues with freshness and rigour.