Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

heath robinson

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.63 in modern English

Syllables: heath robin-son
IPA

21

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

2

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Anything ingenious (and often complex) but absurdly impractical or even useless.

British usage

Example Sentences

"Among the many Heath Robinson contraptions he devised were the Light Vessels (the Sun and the Moon) which would ferry the rescued Light-Particles back to their land of origin along the Milky Way."
"And that is how we came to mow our lake weed, although we eventually found it easier to tie two ropes, one to each side of the inner tube, and to pull the Heath Robinson contraption back and forwards across the water with Chris and I standing on opposite banks, each holding one of the lines."

Etymology

In reference to the drawings by William Heath Robinson.

Usage

British usage

Inflected Forms

Heath Robinsons (plural)

Phrases

Heath Robinsonesque Heath Robinsonian Rube Goldberg machine

Frequently Paired Words

Heath Robinsonesque Heath Robinsonian Rube Goldberg machine

Questions

What does heath robinson mean?: Anything ingenious (and often complex) but absurdly impractical or even useless.
Where does heath robinson come from?: In reference to the drawings by William Heath Robinson.

How to pronounce heath robinson

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