Dictionary

Heath Robinsonian en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /hiːθɹɒbɪnˈsəʊnɪən/ (UK)

Etymology

From Heath Robinson + -ian.

Meanings

1. Elaborate and impractical.
   • Later, when I was not in quite such a vulnerable position, I decided that it was a ridiculously convoluted, Heath Robinsonian piece of machinery, a bit much even for Mycroft. 2011, Laurie R. King, Pirate King:
   • In the eyes of the anti-Bismarck fronde, the chancellor's remarkable web of transcontinental commitments looked less like a system than a creaking Heath-Robinsonian contraption, a flimsy joist-work of ‘plasters and patches’ designed to avoid the pressing choices that confronted the German Empire in an increasingly dangerous world. 2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 127:

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