Goldbergian

[ gohld-bur-gee-uhn ]

adjective

1. Rube Goldberg.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Goldbergian¹

Goldberg + -ian

Example Sentences

Also, nearly every turnover the team coughs up is a Rube Goldbergian series of improbable coincidences: The intended receiver slips before Patrick Mahomes delivers a side-armed pass, the ball ricochets off the receiver’s helmet and the antlers of a gazelle grazing along the sideline before landing in the hands of a defender, who bobbles the ball directly into the hands of a teammate, who nearly runs for a touchdown before being chased down by the gazelle, or by the slightly faster Tyreek Hill.

From New York Times

The slightly Rube Goldbergian idea of repurposing it as a train hall was first floated nearly 30 years ago by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the United States Senator from New York and the most architecturally engaged and sophisticated public official since Thomas Jefferson.

From New York Times

Training on the new $107 million system — a Rube Goldbergian assemblage of interrelated components — was widely described as wanting.

From New York Times

This Rube Goldbergian plan will cost billions and add years to the schedule of what has become known as the Artemis program.

From Washington Post

And in one strange Rube Goldbergian chain of events, a frequent German contributor to one Swedish site has been implicated in the financing of a bombing in Ukraine, in a suspected Russian false-flag operation.

From New York Times