rigmarole
/ˈrɪɡmərəʊl
/noun
1A lengthy and complicated procedure: he went through the rigmarole of securing the front door...
- We ought to learn business like everybody else, go through the same rigmarole.
- But then came the page banners and pop-up ads and the whole rigmarole started all over again.
- They are for people who know what they want and who don't want to go through the rigmarole of talking to a sales assistant.
Synonyms
lengthy process, fuss, fuss and bother, bother, commotion, trouble, folderol, ado, pother
informal palaver, song and dance, performance, to-do, carry-on, carrying-on, kerfuffle, hoo-ha, hullabaloo, ballyhoo, business, pantomime, hassle, hoopla
New Zealand informal bobsy-die
1.1A long, rambling story or statement: she went into a long rigmarole about the different jobs she’d had...
- So aleatoric poetry could be described with historical exactitude as a rigmarole.
- The book is packed with stimulating philosophical (and depressingly prophetic) allusion within the author's own field, but ends up as a bit of a rigmarole.
- The others were standing around, drinks in hand, congratulating my cousin on his initiation, and asking us amused tones what we thought of the crazy rigmarole.
Synonyms
lengthy story/explanation, saga, yarn, recitation, burble, burbling, maundering, shaggy-dog story
informal spiel, banging on, palaver
Origin
Mid 18th century: apparently an alteration of ragman roll, originally denoting a legal document recording a list of offences.