Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Using or containing a great and usually an excessive number of words; wordy. See Synonyms at wordy.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Abounding in words; using or containing more words than are necessary; prolix; tedious by multiplicity of words; wordy: as, a verbose speaker; a verbose argument.
- Synonyms Wordy, diffuse. See pleonasm.
Wiktionary
- adj. Abounding in words, containing more words than necessary. Long winded, or windy.
- adj. computing Producing unusually detailed output for diagnostic purposes.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Abounding in words; using or containing more words than are necessary; tedious by a multiplicity of words; prolix; wordy.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. using or containing too many words
Etymologies
- From Latin verbosus. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English *verbous, from Latin verbōsus, from verbum, word; see verb. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But my tendency to be verbose is better suited to phone or email.”
The Huffington Post: Don McNay: Be first in your age group to embrace technology
“Senator Obama can you define the word verbose in less than 10,00 words?”
“I’ll tell you this, however, the fact that you’re even discussing this in verbose fashion only indicates to this reader that you’re finding it more difficult to focus on the here and now, and Obama’s failed/failing foreign policies.”
“I fondly recall verbose walk-and-talks in the halls of the Bartlett White House.”
Sundance Interview: John Wells, Director of The Company Men | /Film
“At the risk of being called verbose, I would like to change the third answer to "HELL NO!”
“Neither of us was what anyone would call verbose, and I didn't know what there was to say regardless.”
“From this we can infer that "real code" is defined as verbose, sluggish, single-threaded code that is unreliable due to hard-to-find bugs.”
“She wasn't what you would call a verbose girl, but ...”
“These collections include things only grown-ups would be interested in, such as verbose audio commentaries; they also restore scenes that are usually banned from kids' TV for offensive content.”
“All right, not all old school buildings, but if you go back 50 years and beyond these are, typically, "verbose" structures ripe with verse, nuance and cadence.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘verbose’.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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INTERP - speeches can be...
adequate, adroit, blunt, blurred, committed, divisive, exacerbating, fitting, hollow, lengthy, murky, pronounced and 123 more...
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Words about Words
words to describe language
invective, eloquent, laconic, solecism, calque, cognate, bombastic, verbose, anthimeria, magniloquent, amphigory, morpheme and 6 more...
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WordMasters Blue Division Set 2
rampage, prissy, trample, infamy, severe, deplete, callow, slacken, threshold, obscure, teem, barren and 12 more...
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Bright Folk
Some words I come across in my legal studies, though not really legal jargon. And the usage doesn't shout, "hey, I think I'm smart", just simply, "this is what applies in this context."
verbose, inter alia, ostentatious, usurp, presumptuous, anachronistic, unfettered, sine qua non, amenable, subversive, irreducible, penumbra and 28 more...
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pedantic words
Busie old foole, unruly Sunne,..Sawcy pedantique wretch, goe chide Late schooleboyes.
pedagogic, schoolmasterly, academic, bookish, donnish, dry as dust, dryasdust, pedantic, erudite, formal, inkhorn, learned and 65 more...
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try to use now and then
exacerbate, inveterate, obviate, verbose, exasperate, disingenuous, squit, ingenue, Opiate, opioid, revile, decrepit and 14 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for verbose.
jwjarvis Why can't we add words to the synonyms or related section???? May 10, 2012
Prolagus Take an interest in me
Why must I beg for a drink?
Too verbose
You come too close, Sir
Please step back and think
That's the trouble
Flesh attracts the leery look
Rarely does the dream boy come along
He don't exist
A lover with the candour of a friend.
(I'll have to dance with Cassie, by God Help the Girl) Aug 20, 2009
squareintheteeth Probably a descriptor that can be attached to most wordies. Dec 18, 2006