voluble
adjective
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In a chapter titled “Conversation,” from her 1922 book Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home, Emily Post offers her trademark good advice for the loquacious among us: “There is a simple rule, by which if one is a voluble chatterer ... one can at least refrain from being a pest or a bore. And the rule is merely, to stop and think.” Voluble, as is clear in this context, describes someone or something (as in “voluble personality/prose/presence”) characterized by ready or rapid speech. Voluble traces back to the Latin verb volvere, meaning “to set in a circular course” or “to cause to roll.” Another volvere descendant, volume, can also be a help in remembering voluble’s meaning, not because someone described as voluble speaks at a loud volume, per se, but because they have volumes to say.
Examples of voluble in a Sentence
Theresa Braine, New York Daily News, 21 Apr. 2025
The action shifts to the adjacent booth, where Dave Moss (Bill Burr, another knockout debut) sits spewing bile to his less voluble colleague George Aaranow (Michael McKean).
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Covert operations, such as the assassination of a top terrorist leader or Pakistani intelligence or military official, may offer plausible deniability but are unlikely to satisfy the voluble political and public demand for action.
—Sushant Singh, Foreign Affairs, 29 Apr. 2025
But perhaps none has been as voluble or persistent as Michael Roth, who has been president of Wesleyan since 2007.
—Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for voluble
Cite this Entry
“Voluble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/voluble. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
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