Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Words considered as a group, or the manner in which words are used.
  • noun The number of words used, as in a novel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun words collectively
  • noun the excessive use of words; verbiage
  • noun the number of words used in a text
  • noun the choice of words used; phraseology

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

word +‎ -age

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Examples

  • IMHO the current wordage is testing the waters of international opinion to see if it can get a cut from the likely large amount of petroleum sitting in that part of the continental shelf.

    Cheeseburger Gothic » Anyone been following the build up to next falklands war? 2010

  • Whether I move today's scene to the beginning or not, I suspect I won't make quite as big a jump in wordage tomorrow because I'm going to rewrite part of what I wrote today to make it more exciting.

    The first sentence I wrote today... ewillett 2007

  • But all of these things influence the reader’s experience, usually unfavourably; and it is obviously easier to give a text ‘air’, so to speak, if the wordage is short than if it is long.

    Archive 2004-12-01 Michael Allen 2004

  • But all of these things influence the reader’s experience, usually unfavourably; and it is obviously easier to give a text ‘air’, so to speak, if the wordage is short than if it is long.

    The problem of length -- part 2 Michael Allen 2004

  • But all of these things influence the reader’s experience, usually unfavourably; and it is obviously easier to give a text ‘air’, so to speak, if the wordage is short than if it is long.

    December 2004 Michael Allen 2004

  • Most authors will only pull that kind of wordage when the deadline demon is after them.

    In Gordath Wood: Writer Patrice Sarath » The week of writing — a wrapup 2009

  • If there is a downside to writing fast and hard it’s that the wordage is a lot less polished and so editing takes longer.

    In Gordath Wood: Writer Patrice Sarath » Writing lessons — full tilt boogie 2009

  • Maybe mentioning that N'gali's people are inspired by a mix African slaves and Central American natives, while El Diablo's people are drawn from the Spanish conquest of South/Central America might clear things up, but I think it's unnecessary wordage in a note that's supposed to concentrate on plot.

    Query: New and Improved! Now With Notes! Ulysses 2010

  • Maybe mentioning that N'gali's people are inspired by a mix African slaves and Central American natives, while El Diablo's people are drawn from the Spanish conquest of South/Central America might clear things up, but I think it's unnecessary wordage in a note that's supposed to concentrate on plot.

    Archive 2010-01-01 Ulysses 2010

  • He's going to overwhelm you with wordage, with dates and supposed data, he's going to bore you into submission, and at the end you're going to throw up your hands and shout, I know Iraq and Afghanistan were not Don Rumsfeld's fault!

    The One That Got Away Peggy Noonan 2011

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