Heath Robinsonian

English

Etymology

From Heath Robinson +‎ -an.

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /hiːθɹɒbɪnˈsəʊnɪən/

Adjective

Heath Robinsonian (comparative more Heath Robinsonian, superlative most Heath Robinsonian)

  1. Elaborate and impractical.
    • 2011, Laurie R. King, Pirate King:
      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.
    • 2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin 2013, p. 127:
      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.
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