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Saturday August 21, 2004

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verbose \vuhr-BOHS\ , adjective:
Abounding in words; using or containing more words than are necessary; tedious by an excess of words; wordy; as, "a verbose speaker; a verbose argument."

. . .his singular style of flattening verbose politicians with the phrase: "Will you please get to the point."
-- Paul McCann, "Pioneer of TV debate put end to deference", Times (London), August 8, 2000

One reason I admire Oscar is that he's the least verbose, if sometimes plain to the point of being uninteresting.
-- Frank Rich, "Conversations with Sondheim", New York Times Magazine, March 12, 2000

Many tombstones have inscriptions that are not only touching but also, by modern standards, verbose.
-- Francine Prose, "Entering New Castle, Del.", New York Times Magazine, February 27, 2000

Verbose comes from Latin verbosus, from verbum, a word. Hence it is related to verbal, expressed in words.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for verbose

 

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