prolix

comparative more prolix · superlative most prolix

1. formalTediously lengthy; dwelling on trivial details.

   Prolix! Prolix! / Nothing a pair of scissors can't fix!

   2008, Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, “We Call Upon The Author”, in Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

   4 more examples

   "Give me but the luxury of answering to one of his prolix, contradictory speeches, and...I only ask the revenge of a reply."

   1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 298

   People who have blamed [Jean Charles Léonard de] Sismondi as unnecessarily prolix cannot have considered the crowd of details presented by the history of Italy.

   1843, G. C. Leonardo Sismondi., “Bossi—Necrologia”, in The Quarterly Review, volume 72, number 144, page 333

   From General Peckem's office on the mainland came prolix bulletins each day headed by such cheery homilies as "Procrastination is the Thief of Time and "Cleanliness is Next to Godliness."

   1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “Major Major Major Major”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 90

   Traditional narratives he found too prolix and discursive. "There's always 14 pages describing a lawn that you skip over," he says.

   1992 September 13, William Grimes, “The Ridiculous Vision of Mark Leyner”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: verbose, circumlocutory, diffuse, periphrastic, palaverous, pleonastic, rigmarole, sesquipedalian · Antonyms: brief, concise, crisp, laconic, lapidary, short-winded, succinct, tight

2. obsoleteLong; having great length.

present singular third person prolixes · participle present prolixing · participle past prolixed · past prolixed

1. rareTo be tediously lengthy.