prolixity

[ proh-lik-si-tee ]

noun

1. the state or quality of being unnecessarily or tediously wordy; verbosity:

   The book offers food for thought but, for all its prolixity, fails to effectively explain what is at the core of irony as a rhetorical strategy.

2. a tendency to speak or write at great or tedious length:

   As a communicator, the official suffers from a lethal mix of ailments: terminal prolixity, rampant hyperbole, and a preference for bureaucratic jargon.

Other Words From

• o·ver·pro·lix·i·ty noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of prolixity¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French prolixité “lengthiness, verbosity,” from Late Latin prōlixitāt- (inflectional stem prōlixitās ) “tedious length in speech or writing,” from Latin: “extension in time or space”; prolix ( def )

Example Sentences

Thus blogging rewards prolixity as well as prolificacy, long posts as well as frequent ones.

From Slate

As Chief Justice John Marshall said in 1819, the nature of a constitution was that it was designed for the ages and therefore could not “partake of the prolixity of a legal code.”

From Washington Post

But there are moments — a lunge toward a smarmy rival, aborted at the last second; Jamie’s nervous prolixity in a flashback to his first meeting with Amandine — when he gets to practice his alchemy, transmuting convulsive nervousness or rage into crystalline comedy.

From New York Times

In a sober speech lasting less than ten minutes, remarkably short for a leader given to prolixity in his first term, Mr. Macron seemed determined to project a new humility and a break from a sometimes abrasive style.

From New York Times

Julian Hawthorne’s childhood tendency toward prolixity persisted into his adulthood.

From Slate