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Rube Goldberg

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
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.


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The 1,990-page House bill attempts to make the existing health care system work for everyone, which requires a legislative Rube Goldberg machine of mandates, subsidies, taxes and penalties.
But looking at this Rube Goldberg contraption, it's hard to see how.
TOUGH LOVE The brutal fact of the matter is that we have what can only be described as a Rube Goldberg device for retail technology.
 
 
 
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