Meanings
plural verbosities
- countablerhetoricuncountableThe excess use of words, especially using more than are needed for clarity or precision.
1 more example
With Christie's words about "all-talk-no-action" in mind, notice that Obama and his two secretaries of state, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, as well as his vice president, Joe Biden, were all senators, the last two serving for two or three decades, respectively. Not forgetting the ill-fated secretary of defense, Senator Chuck Hagel. Their capacity for talking so much and saying so little is astonishing. Their verbosity is unpalatable.
2016 February 8, Marwan Bishara, “Why Obama fails the leadership test in the Middle East”, in Al Jazeera EnglishSynonyms: long-windedness, verboseness, wordiness, verbiage, prolixity, ambages, circumlocution, logorrhea
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe excess use of words, especially using more than are needed for clarity or precision.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinverbōsitās
- Middle Frenchverbosité
- Englishverbosity
From Middle French verbosité, from Late Latin verbōsitās. By surface analysis, verbose + -ity.
More words from Middle French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian многословие
- многословие (mnogoslovie)the excess use of words; long-windedness
Chinese Mandarin 冗句
- 冗句 (rǒngjù)the excess use of words; long-windedness
Dutch breedsprakigheid
- breedsprakigheidthe excess use of words; long-windedness
Finnish liikasanaisuus
- liikasanaisuusthe excess use of words; long-windedness
French verbosité
- verbositéthe excess use of words; long-windedness
German Verbosität, Weitschweifigkeit
- Verbositätthe excess use of words; long-windedness
- Weitschweifigkeitthe excess use of words; long-windedness
Greek πολυλογία, απεραντολογία
- πολυλογία (polylogía)the excess use of words; long-windedness
- απεραντολογία (aperantología)the excess use of words; long-windedness
Hungarian bőbeszédűség
- bőbeszédűségthe excess use of words; long-windedness
Irish foclachas
- foclachasthe excess use of words; long-windedness
Italian verbosità
- verbositàthe excess use of words; long-windedness
Japanese 冗句
- 冗句 (jōku)the excess use of words; long-windedness
Norwegian Bokmål ordrikhet
- ordrikhetthe excess use of words; long-windedness
Polish rozwlekłość
- rozwlekłośćthe excess use of words; long-windedness
Portuguese verbosidade, verborragia
- verbosidadethe excess use of words; long-windedness
- verborragiathe excess use of words; long-windedness
Russian многословность
- многословность (mnogoslovnostʹ)the excess use of words; long-windedness
Spanish palabrería
- palabreríathe excess use of words; long-windedness
Swedish mångordighet, svammel
- mångordighetthe excess use of words; long-windedness
- svammelthe excess use of words; long-windedness
Turkish laf kalabalığı
- laf kalabalığıthe excess use of words; long-windedness
Welsh geiriogrwydd
- geiriogrwyddthe excess use of words; long-windedness
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with verbosity
Cite this entry
verbosity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/verbosity
“verbosity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/verbosity. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “verbosity,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/verbosity.
Source: verbosity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.