Meanings
nounsesquipedality (countable and uncountable, plural sesquipedalities)
plural sesquipedalities
- countableuncountableAn instance or condition of being sesquipedalian.
Imagine to yourſelf a little, ſquat, uncourtly figure of a Doctor Slop, of about four feet and a half perpendicular height, with a breadth of back, and a ſeſquipedality of belly, which might have done honour to a ſerjeant in the horſe-guards.
1759, [Laurence Sterne], chapter IX, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 2nd (1st London) edition, volume II, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], published 1760, →OCLC, pages 58–59
Origin
Cite this entry
APA
sesquipedality. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sesquipedality
MLA
“sesquipedality.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sesquipedality. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sesquipedality,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sesquipedality.
Source: sesquipedality on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.