polysyllabic

adjective

poly·​syl·​lab·​ic ˌpä-lē-sə-ˈla-bik 

1

: having more than one and usually more than three syllables

2

: characterized by words of many syllables

polysyllabically

ˌpä-lē-sə-ˈla-bi-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Examples of polysyllabic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But while special-edition Mopars may have names to rival Spanish royalty, those polysyllabic sensations don’t often come with a badge count to match. — Byron Hurd, The Drive, 3 June 2026

Think slick PowerPoints, official-looking reports with polysyllabic bits of jargon, lines of computer code that look like, well, usable code. — Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 26 Sep. 2025

Gilbert, for instance, enjoyed sending up the polysyllabic pomposity of the English oratory of his day. — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 23 May 2022

Variants, mandates, quarantines and requirements -- who knew 2021 would be so polysyllabic? — Maureen O'Hare, CNN, 21 Aug. 2021

Her cousin Berg takes pleasure in spouting polysyllabic, pedantic words that belie his hulking form. — oregonlive, 11 Feb. 2020

One distinctive feature of all Sino-Tibetan languages is that most words consist of a single syllable, like English it or book; long, polysyllabic words are unthinkable. — Jared Diamond, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019

Word History

Etymology

Medieval Latin polysyllabus, from Greek polysyllabos, from poly- + syllabē syllable

First Known Use

1774, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for polysyllabic

• monosyllabic
• disyllabic
• syllabic

Kids Definition

polysyllabic

adjective

poly·​syl·​lab·​ic ˌpäl-i-sə-ˈlab-ik 

: having many syllables

especially : having more than three syllables

polysyllabically

-ˈlab-i-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

polysyllable

ˈpäl-i-ˌsil-ə-bəl, 

ˌpäl-i-ˈsil-

noun