1
as in repetition
the use of too many words to express an idea
teachers loathe the verbiage that students resort to in order to pad a paper
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in rhetoric
language that is impressive-sounding but not meaningful or sincere
the pretentious verbiage that one finds in the reviews of self-important art critics
Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in language
the way in which something is put into words
as per the standard verbiage of military reports, the assault was launched at "0700 hours"
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of verbiage
Katherine Woodman of 'Big Brother' talks 'aggressive verbiage' around Rylie Jeffries, moreLooking for a free mini puzzle?
—
David Wysong, Cincinnati Enquirer, 5 Sep. 2025
The objectionable verbiage is sorted into categories, with explanations and descriptions.
—James Folta, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
That verbiage sounds more like a lawyer or politician than one of the world’s leading shipyards.
—Michael Verdon, Robb Report, 3 Sep. 2025
Having that same voice and verbiage is so critical.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 1 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for verbiage
David Wysong, Cincinnati Enquirer, 5 Sep. 2025
The objectionable verbiage is sorted into categories, with explanations and descriptions.
—James Folta, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
That verbiage sounds more like a lawyer or politician than one of the world’s leading shipyards.
—Michael Verdon, Robb Report, 3 Sep. 2025
Having that same voice and verbiage is so critical.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 1 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for verbiage
Recent Examples of Synonyms for verbiage
Noun
-
The repetition of that mythic version has buttressed the belief that the fight for American independence was an event somehow separate from world history.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
-
Recurring gags, like one with Madonna suddenly falling asleep mid-sentence, are surprising and therefore funny the first time they’re rolled out, and then less surprising and therefore less funny with each repetition.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Worthington said the rhetoric by Republicans in Pennsylvania is helpful, but limited in its effectiveness.—
Will McDuffie,
ABC News,
3 Nov. 2025
-
The Iraq War exposed just how hollow our rhetoric of freedom and democracy was.—
Shadi Hamid,
Time,
3 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
In a similar vein, Timnit Gebru, a computer scientist writing during her time working at Google, warned of the dangers of large language models acting as stochastic parrots, which repeat language patterns without understanding, and in doing so replicate the biases embedded in their training data.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Nov. 2025
-
The dust-up stems back to the Spanish singer’s recent appearance on the New York Times’ Popcast, where she was asked about singing in about 13 different languages one her new album Lux and the challenges of communicating with a global audience.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
On their website, the three yellow stripes are prominently featured on the website under the Black Lives Matter wordage, and used on their social media accounts.—
Amritpal Kaur Sandhu-Longoria,
USA TODAY,
29 Mar. 2023
-
Reached by the Union-Tribune Wednesday morning, Lindsey differed with McGillis’ wordage.—
Don Norcross,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Mar. 2023
Noun
-
There is a sense of replay in the heightened and artificial diction with which Mateus has her cast bear witness, and this sense is enhanced by the painterly compositions that frame the speakers.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
30 Oct. 2025
-
The spice that makes this dish work is Carl's precious decor and fussiness about keeping the place impeccable, communicated with exquisite diction by the burly Scales.—
Jim Higgins,
jsonline.com,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Even so, Israel was involved in drafting the resolution and is still trying to influence its wording, the official told CNN.—
Eugenia Yosef,
CNN Money,
4 Nov. 2025
-
The new wording would also give the council wiggle room in deciding the city manager's annual salary, contract term and amount of severance pay.—
Elena Santa Cruz,
AZCentral.com,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
This working prompt injection came only after much trial and error, explaining the verbosity and the detail in it.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
18 Sep. 2025
-
The truth is, there is rarely a Merritt Wever or an Adrien Brody in awards speeches—extreme cases of brevity or verbosity that stun both those in the room and at home.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
15 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The formulations, doses, and follow-up protocols vary widely.—
Lauryn Higgins,
Flow Space,
6 Nov. 2025
-
In each formulation tested, the weight loss leveled off in mice treated with the plasmids.—
Brenda Goodman,
CNN Money,
4 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Verbiage.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/verbiage. Accessed 11 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share