Meanings
plural volubilities
- uncountablethe state of being voluble
His volubility had left him at last, and he sank down wearily on my sofa. I felt that no words of condolence availed, and I let him lie there quietly.
1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 36”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC2 more examples
We sat down at a table; the Tsarist ordered wine, and Valeria, after applying a wet napkin to her knee, went on talking into me rather than to me; she poured words into this dignified receptacle with a volubility I had never suspected she had in her.
1955 September 15, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, Paris: The Olympia Press […], →OCLCBut there is no help for him — or for us, his readers — no way for him to stop the chattering by which he means to make his meaning clear […] Freddie Greenfield is doomed, then, and we are doomed along with him, victims of his volubility.
1976 December 18, Rudy Kikel, “The Doomsday Book by the Jewish Comedian”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 25, page 14 - countablethe degree to which someone is voluble
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe quality of being facile in speech and writing
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinvolūbilitās
- Englishvolubility
From Latin volūbilitās. By surface analysis, voluble + -ity.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian бъбривост
- бъбривост (băbrivost)the state of being voluble
Finnish sujuvuus
- sujuvuusthe state of being voluble
Russian говорли́вость, разгово́рчивость
- говорли́вость (govorlívostʹ)the state of being voluble
- разгово́рчивость (razgovórčivostʹ)the state of being voluble
Cite this entry
volubility. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/volubility
“volubility.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/volubility. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “volubility,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/volubility.
Source: volubility on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.