orotund

comparative more orotund · superlative most orotund

1. Of a voice: characterized by clarity, fullness, smoothness, and strength of sound; hence, of a person: having a clear, full, and strong voice, appropriate for public speaking, reading aloud, etc.

   Synonyms: ore rotundo, resonant, rotund, booming, boom-boom, canorous, remugient, resonant

2. broadlyOf writing, etc.: clear, effective, powerful.
3. broadlyderogatoryOf speech or writing: bombastic, pompous.

   He would also, you can't help thinking, have approved [Alan] Hollinghurst's discriminating eye and perhaps even enjoyed the half-facetious, half-adoring tributes Nick pays to his famously orotund late style, the "plums of periphrasis" Nick likes to slip into his conversation.

   2004 October 31, Anthony Quinn, “‘The Line of Beauty’: The last good summer [book review]”, in The New York Times Book Review, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Oct 2023

   2 more examples

   A series of U.N. and government officials spoke. And spoke. And spoke. Their words were grand, their sentences endless. In orotund turns of phrase—indeed, in spiraling helices of phrase; in snarled fishing lines of phrase; in endless small intestines of phrase—the speakers ingeniously explored and invented connections between qwerty, alphabetical filing, and socioeconomic advance.

   1990, Robert Klitgaard, “Beginning to Move”, in Tropical Gangsters: One Man’s Experience with Development and Decadence in Deepest Africa, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN, page 124

   When Groucho Marx was once asked a long and orotund question, he replied, "Whom knows?" […] The popularity of "whom" humour tells us two things about the distinction between "who" and "whom". First, "whom" has long been perceived as formal verging on pompous. Second, the rules for its proper use are obscure to many speakers, tempting them to drop "whom" into their speech whenever they want to sound posh.

   2014 August 15, Steven Pinker, “Reference and languages books: Steven Pinker: 10 ‘grammar rules’ it’s OK to break (sometimes)”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2023

   Synonyms: grandiloquent, magniloquent, tumid, turgid

plural orotunds

1. countableobsoleteA voice characterized by clarity, fullness, smoothness, and strength of sound.
2. obsoleteuncountableThe quality of clarity, effectiveness, and power in speech or writing.