Meanings
- uncountableIdle or vain talk.
Thus Pelagatti remained a loner throughout his life; he was frequently taken down to the police station, and subject to political identity crises that would plunge him either into obstinate silence or vaniloquence about the rocket engines and camels of the three wise men.
2020, Ermanno Cavazzoni, translated by Jamie Richards, Brief Lives of Idiots, Cambridge, MA: Wakefield Press, page 121 more example
In philosophy, however, it is to be deplored that eloquence too commonly passes for science, being mistaken for logical acquirement; but truth alone is the just eloquence of philosophy, and without it the finest composition is, to the logician, but babbling and vaniloquence.
1850, George Field, The analogy of logic, and logic of analogy, London: David Bogue, page 140Synonyms: vaniloquy
Synonyms & antonyms
nounIdle or vain talk.
Origin
- Latinvanus“vain”
- Englishvaniloquence
From Latin vanus (“vain”) + loquentia (“talk”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
vaniloquence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vaniloquence
“vaniloquence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vaniloquence. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vaniloquence,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vaniloquence.
Source: vaniloquence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.