Rube Goldberg

(American informal)

a Rube Goldberg piece of equipment or plan is very complicated and not very practical

Usage notes: Rube Goldberg was an American who drew funny pictures for newspapers showing complicated inventions.

They use a Rube Goldberg type contraption to open and close the farm gate. The city is not well served by this Rube Goldberg scheme for economic development.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Yasser	-	Arabic, Persian
AsunciÓN	ah-soon-THYON (Spanish), ah-soon-SYON (Latin American Spanish)	Spanish
Clarence	KLER-ənts, KLAR-ənts	English
Geretrudis	-	Ancient Germanic (Latinized)
Aristarchos	-	Ancient Greek
PacÍFica	pah-THEE-fee-kah (Spanish), pah-SEE-fee-kah (Latin American Spanish)	Spanish