Definition

Noun: - The use of long words; characterized by long words or long-windedness: The quality or style of speech or writing that employs lengthy, often polysyllabic, words, sometimes to an excessive or ostentatious degree.

Usage

• This is a formal and somewhat rare noun, often used in literary or academic criticism to describe a verbose or pedantic style.
• It is typically used in a neutral or slightly negative context to comment on language style.

Examples

• The professor's lectures were marked by an unnecessary that often confused the undergraduates.
• His writing style, full of , made the simple instructions difficult to follow.
• While some admire his erudition, others find his constant tiresome.

Advanced Usage

• "A tendency toward sesquipedality": A phrase describing a habitual inclination to use long words.
  • The legal document's tendency toward sesquipedality obscured its core meaning.
• Used as a stylistic critique in rhetoric and literary analysis.

Variants and Related Words

• Sesquipedalian (adj): Pertaining to or characterized by the use of long words.
  • He has a sesquipedalian vocabulary.
• Sesquipedalian (n): A person who uses long words, or a long word itself.
  • "Antidisestablishmentarianism" is a famous sesquipedalian.

Synonyms

• Long-windedness: The use of more words than necessary.
• Verbosity: Speech or writing that uses an excess of words.
• Grandiloquence: Pompous or extravagant language.
• Polysyllabism: The use of polysyllabic words.

Antonyms

• Brevity: Concise and exact use of words.
• Simplicity: The quality of being easy to understand, often using plain language.
• Laconicism: Using very few words.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "A sesquipedalian style": A direct descriptive phrase for writing or speech characterized by long words.
  • The author's sesquipedalian style is not for the casual reader.

Noun

1. using long words