Word of the Day : November 1, 2018

verbose \ver-BOHSS\ adjective

Definition

1 : containing more words than necessary : wordy; also : impaired by wordiness

2 : given to wordiness

Did You Know?

There's no shortage of words to describe wordiness in English. Diffuse, long-winded, prolix, redundant, windy, repetitive, rambling, and circumlocutory are some that come to mind. Want to express the opposite idea? Try succinct, concise, brief, short, summary, terse, compact, or compendious. Verbose, which falls solidly into the first camp of words, comes from Latin verbosus, from verbum, meaning "word." Other descendants of verbum include verb, adverb, proverb, verbal, and verbicide (that's the deliberate distortion of the sense of a word).

Aired November 1, 2018

All Merriam-Webster content is available at www.merriam-webster.com