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Verbiage descends from French verbier, meaning "to trill" or "to warble." The usual sense of the word implies an overabundance of possibly unnecessary words, much like the word wordiness. In other words, a writer with a fondness for verbiage might be accused of "wordiness." Some people think the phrase "excess verbiage" is redundant, but that's not necessarily true. Verbiage has a second sense meaning, simply, "wording," with no suggestion of excess. This second definition has sometimes been treated as an error by people who insist that verbiage must always imply excessiveness, but that sense is well-established and can be considered standard.
Examples of verbiage in a Sentence
Charles McGrath, New York Times Book Review, 13 Aug. 2006
Fashionable courtiers in the Renaissance adopted the doublet. … The cotton padding of this jacket, called bombast (the source of the term for inflated verbiage), was gradually increased to give courtiers the pumped-up look.
—John Tierney, New York Times, 21 Jan. 1999
To find the height of arcane verbiage look no farther than Rule 10 of the rules governing Major League Baseball, in what is known as the Blue Book. The corresponding entry explains the waivers system—the procedures that pertain to certain player transactions—in a way that makes the Magna Carta look like part of the Jackie Collins oeuvre.
—Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated, 25 Aug. 1997
Sure, some contract verbiage is so objectionable, it can be considered against public policy; in fact, the most arduous hold-harmless clauses would probably be thrown out of court.
—Leon H. Ciesla, Plane & Pilot, March 1995
Is word processing truly the wonder it seems or will it turn out to be but a mere exercise in verbose verbiage?
—Erik Sandberg-Diment, New York Times, 26 June 1984
The editor removed some of the excess verbiage from the article.
teachers loathe the verbiage that students resort to in order to pad a paper
Mary Carole McCauley,
Chicago Tribune,
12 June 2026
The opposing locker room remains the same size, but with World Cup verbiage on the wall.
—
Pete Grathoff
june 8,
Kansas City Star,
9 June 2026
All this negative verbiage stems from disagreements over contracts with Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach and what the sheriff agreed to do.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
6 June 2026
There was also opponent-relative verbiage sprinkled throughout as the schedule was being announced.
—
Jayna Bardahl,
New York Times,
15 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for verbiage
Cite this Entry
“Verbiage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/verbiage. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
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