verbose

verbose
Est. 1828

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verbose
adjective
ver·;bose (;)v;r-;b;s
Synonyms of verbose
1
: containing more words than necessary : wordy
a verbose reply
also : impaired by wordiness
a verbose style
2
: given to wordiness
a verbose orator
verbosely adverb
verboseness noun


Did you know?
There's no shortage of words to describe wordiness in English. Diffuse, long-winded, prolix, redundant, windy, repetitive, rambling, and circumlocutory are some that come to mind. Want to express the opposite idea? Try succinct, concise, brief, short, summary, terse, compact, or compendious. Verbose, which falls solidly into the first camp of words, comes from the Latin adjective verb;sus, from verbum, meaning "word." Other descendants of verbum include verb, adverb, proverb, verbal, and verbicide ("the deliberate distortion of the sense of a word").

Synonyms
circuitous
circumlocutory
diffuse
garrulous
logorrheic
long-winded
pleonastic
prolix
rambling
windy
wordy
Choose the Right Synonym for verbose

wordy, verbose, prolix, diffuse mean using more words than necessary to express thought.

wordy may also imply loquaciousness or garrulity.

a wordy speech
verbose suggests a resulting dullness, obscurity, or lack of incisiveness or precision.

the verbose position papers
prolix suggests unreasonable and tedious dwelling on details.

habitually transformed brief anecdotes into prolix sagas
diffuse stresses lack of compactness and pointedness of style.

diffuse memoirs that are so many shaggy-dog stories
Examples of verbose in a Sentence
Something seems to have gone seriously wrong with the subediting and proof-reading of this self-indulgently verbose and misprint-ridden production, which is further flawed by a mis-match between the author's vaulting theoretical ambitions and his scholarly limitations, notably his faulty grasp of ancient Greek and inability to deliver a clear and consistent line of reasoned and logical argument.
—Paul Cartledge, Times Literary Supplement, 8 Mar. 1991
What makes this tiny tome so much fun are the answers. There are occasional one-word zingers: to a verbose question as to whether a resident of a planet with two suns would have two shadows, Merlin's response is "Yes." The longest answers are about a page in length and seem to be triggered when a questioner happens upon one of the author's favorite topics or pet peeves, such as relativity, tachyons, and the endangered ozone layer.
—James H. Sharp, Air & Space Smithsonian, February/March 1990
I must confess … that if I had known how many classics there are in English literature, and how verbose the best of them contrive to be, I should never have undertaken the work. They only allow one seventy thousand words, you see.
—Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out, 1915
He is a verbose speaker.
She has a verbose writing style.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The lawmaker said that the usable speech only came after four or five prompts that generated unusable material, either too verbose or oddly phrased, an illustration of how important the input into the AI is to the result.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Jan. 2023
The verbose coach was at somewhat of a loss for words, opting to forgo opening remarks in his postgame press conference and instead diving right into questions.
—Tom Green | Tgreen@al.com, al, 18 Jan. 2023
—Paul Thompson, Rolling Stone, 12 Dec. 2022
Their conversations — facetious, verbose, skittish — propel the narrative, reveal their personalities and betray their intentions.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Oct. 2022

Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Latin verb;sus, from verbum "word, verb entry 1" + -;sus -ose entry 1

First Known Use
circa 1531, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of verbose was circa 1531
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