long-winded
Americanadjective
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talking or writing at tedious length.
long-winded after-dinner speakers.
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continued to a tedious length in speech or writing.
another of his long-winded election speeches.
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able to breathe deeply; not tiring easily.
adjective
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tiresomely long
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capable of energetic activity without becoming short of breath
Other Word Forms
- long-windedly adverb
- long-windedness noun
Etymology
Origin of long-winded
First recorded in 1580–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Rose has few friends, perhaps because she has few unexpressed thoughts—and those thoughts tend toward the long-winded and uncompromising.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026
There was long-winded indulgence and lovely itty-bitty works, over in a flash but suggestive of a full and lovely life, like that of an insect.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2025
But the schemes they need to access to get it can be long-winded and complicated.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2025
But it was a long-winded process requiring two doctors to sign it off and for the person to "live in their acquired gender" for at least two years.
From BBC • Apr. 18, 2025
Every human pastime—music, cooking, sports, art, theoretical physics—develops an argot to spare its enthusiasts from having to say or type a long-winded description every time they refer to a familiar concept in each other’s company.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
