Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Brevity of speech; conciseness.
- n. A shortened or condensed phrase or expression.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In rhetoric and grammar, brevity of diction; a concise or abridged form of expression; especially, non-repetition or omission of a word when its repetition or use would be necessary to complete the grammatical construction: as, I do not think so now, but I have (thought so); this is as good (as) or better than that.
Wiktionary
- n. concise speech; laconism
- n. rhetoric Any of several forms of omission of words, including the omission of an understood part of a phrase, as, the omission of "good" from "(good) morning!" (brachyology).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Rhet.) Conciseness of expression; brevity.
Etymologies
- From brachy- + -logy, from Ancient Greek βραχυλογία, from βραχύς ("short") + λογία ("speech"); compare brachyology. (Wiktionary)
- Medieval Latin brachylogia, from Greek brakhulogiā : brakhu-, brachy- + logos, speech; see -logy. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A similar brachylogy at _EP_ I iv 31 'iunctior Haemonia est _Ponto_ quam Roma”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘brachylogy’.
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Rhetorical Devices
trope, wellerism, antimetabole, syncope, open-list, accismus, abating, abbaser, abecedarian, abcisio, ablatio, abominatio and 425 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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LIT - stylistic schemes & rhetorical ...
polyptoton, polysyndeton, aureation, pleonasm, anacoluthon, anadiplosis, anaphora, anastrophe, antistrophe, antithesis, aporia, aposiopesis and 34 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, B
bloviate, bejesus, brouhaha, behoove, bodacious, bamboozle, banshee, bub, bolus, blob, bubbly, bleb and 414 more...
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Wordie/Wordnik Curio Cabinet
Oddments culled from my "main" lists that belong in a display cabinet of their own, plus sundry other curiosities. :-)
zeugma, ziggurat, xiphoid, xeric, whizgigging, whangdoodle, viviparous, vivific, vinolent, verjuice, vellicate, velleity and 1193 more...
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2008 Wordlist
Hopefully, I'll be using this site for more than one year. It will be fun then to look back and see what new words I found worthy of notice in any given year.
All words spotted in 2008...longanimity, permalancer, breeder, biodegradable, handicapable, gender-neutral, translator, interpreter, translation, interpreting, kleptocracy, fanfiction and 1598 more...
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jmjarmstrong's list
Words that I used to know.
geloscopy, hunker, willy nilly, harum scarum, whacko, meh, nork, misunderestimate, atrabiliousness, luftmensch, auxanometer, hyperhedonia and 1948 more...
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Odessa's Words
defenestration, decathect, effulgent, taciturn, ataraxia, coprophagous, nyctitropic, pernicious, paradox, anachronism, synesthesia, cacophony and 223 more...
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B
bafflegab, bagatelle, bacillus, batrachian, bibliolatry, bindweed, bonhomie, boule, bruit, bucolic, brachylogy, brachymetropia and 12 more...
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Interesting Words 1
Some words that piqued my interest
catachresis, rhotacism, mytacism, metanalysis, logomachy, cacoepy, cacodoxy, sesquipedalian, acyrology, cacozelia, brachylogy, solecism and 11 more...
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thems fightin' words
quixotic, decipher, exigent, callipygian, sui generis, heterodox, apperception, supine, erudite, depredation, habitue, eremite and 23 more...
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Short 'n Sweet
And not so sweet.
short and sweet, pithy, laconic, concise, brief, compact, curt, brass tacks, epigrammatic, short, pointed, honed and 31 more...
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Words about words
neologism, camouflanguage, vocabularious, portmanteau, metonymy, tmesis, apocopes, aphesis, eponym, catachresis, synechdoche, brachylogy and 9 more...
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long words
sesquipedalian, punctilious, catachrestic, brachylogy, catachresis
Tweets
Looking for tweets for brachylogy.

jmjarmstrong JM – brachylogy. Apr 25, 2011
ruzuzu So that's what it's called. Apr 21, 2011
mialuthien Asyndeton and zeugma are types of brachylogy. Ellipse is used synonymously. Jul 22, 2008