different between rigidity vs rigour

English

Etymology

rigid +? -ity, from Latin rigiditas.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???d???d?ti/

Noun

rigidity (countable and uncountable, plural rigidities)

1. The quality or state of being rigid; lack of pliability; the quality of resisting change of physical shape
2. The amount of resistance with which a body opposes change of form.
3. Stiffness of appearance or manner; want of ease or elegance.
4. (economics) stickiness (of prices/wages etc.). Describing the tendency of prices and money wages to adjust to changes in the economy with a certain delay.

Synonyms

• rigidness

Antonyms

• flexibility
• ductility
• malleability
• softness

Translations

References

• rigidity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

English

Alternative forms

• rigor (US)

Etymology

From Middle English rigour, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French rigor, from Latin rigor (“stiffness, rigidity, rigor, cold, harshness”), from rigere (“to be rigid”). Compare French rigueur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?????(?)/
• Rhymes: -???(?)
• Homophones: rigor, rigger

Noun

rigour (countable and uncountable, plural rigours)

1. Severity or strictness.
   • 1611, King James Version, Exodus 1:13–14:

     And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

2. Harshness, as of climate.
3. A trembling or shivering response.
4. Character of being unyielding or inflexible.
5. Shrewd questioning.
6. Higher level of difficulty. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
7. (Britain) Misspelling of rigor (“rigor mortis”).

Related terms

• rigid
• rigorous
• rigorousness

Translations

Further reading

• rigour in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• rigour in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.