characterized by or proceeding from rigour; harsh, strict, or severe: rigorous discipline severely accurate; scrupulous: rigorous book-keeping (esp of weather) extreme or harsh (of a proof) making the validity of the successive steps completely explicit
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
rig•or•ous /ˈrɪgərəs/USA pronunciation adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- of or relating to rigor:rigorous exercise; rigorous research.
rig•or•ous
(rig′ər əs),USA pronunciation adj.
rig′or•ous•ly, adv.
rig′or•ous•ness, n.
- characterized by rigor;
rigidly severe or harsh, as people, rules, or discipline:rigorous laws. - severely exact or accurate;
precise:rigorous research. - (of weather or climate) uncomfortably severe or harsh;
extremely inclement. - Mathematics, Philosophy[Logic, Math.]logically valid.
- Medieval Latin rigōrōsus. See rigor, -ous
- Middle English 1350–1400
rig′or•ous•ness, n.
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged stern, austere, hard, inflexible, stiff, unyielding. See strict.
- 2.See corresponding entry in Unabridged demanding, finical.
- 3.See corresponding entry in Unabridged hard, bitter.
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged flexible, soft.
- 2.See corresponding entry in Unabridged inaccurate.
- 3.See corresponding entry in Unabridged mild.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'rigorous' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Arhat
- Draconian
- acid test
- ascetic
- asceticism
- astringent
- austere
- belief
- direct cinema
- disciplined
- discovery procedure
- discursion
- drill
- exact
- exacting
- exergaming
- hard
- hard-and-fast
- inflexible
- iron hand
- liberal
- mathematical
- moderate
- proceduralism
- rigid
- scrupulous
- self-rigorous
- severe
- soft science
- stern
- strict
- witch-hunt