Meaning & use
rigour
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Meanings
noununcountable
Careful, exact and thorough attention to detail, so that every step of the work meets a high standard.
Grammar: No plural in this sense: the study lacks rigour.
Patterns
- rigour in something
- with rigour
The report was praised for its academic rigour.
She checked every figure with great rigour before publishing.
Good science demands rigour in how data are collected.
nounusually plural
Severe or harsh conditions that are hard to put up with, especially bad weather or hard living.
Grammar: Usually plural with of: the rigours of winter.
Patterns
- the rigours of something
The explorers were unprepared for the rigours of the polar winter.
Few of the horses survived the rigours of the long journey.
The old car could not stand the rigours of the mountain road.
noununcountableformal
Strictness in applying rules or punishments, with no softening or exceptions.
Grammar: Often found in formal or legal writing: the rigour of the law.
Patterns
- the rigour of something
The judge applied the rigour of the law without exception.
Students complained about the rigour of the school's discipline.
Word forms
| plural | rigours |
|---|
Common combinations
- academic rigour
- The course is known for its academic rigour.
- intellectual rigour
- Her essay showed real intellectual rigour.
- the rigours of winter
- The cabin was built to survive the rigours of winter.
- lack rigour
- Critics said the survey lacked rigour.
- scientific rigour
- The team tested the idea with scientific rigour.
Synonyms and how they differ
- thoroughness
- Thoroughness means doing every part of a task fully, but rigour adds the idea of strict standards and logic.
- precision
- Precision is about being exact in detail, whereas rigour also covers a demanding method.
- severity
- Severity fits the harsh-conditions sense, but it does not suggest careful standards as rigour does.
- hardship
- Hardship names the suffering, while rigours are the harsh conditions that cause it.
Opposites
Word family
- rigorous adjective
- careful, exact and thorough, or very strict
- rigorously adverb
- in a thorough and strict way
- rigid adjective
- stiff and not able to bend or change
- rigor noun
- the American spelling of rigour
Commonly confused: rigour or rigidity?
rigour vs rigidity
Rigidity means stiffness or an unwillingness to change, while rigour means strict, careful thoroughness or harsh conditions.
Practice
The team earned respect for the ______ of their research, which checked every claim twice.
Choose one answer.
Rigour is the careful, strict thoroughness that fits checking every claim twice. Rigidity means stiffness, which would be a criticism, and rigging and romance do not fit the context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rigour”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.