Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
dictionary thesaurus

Thesaurus

wordy

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of wordy

1 using or containing more words than necessary to express an idea

  • her writing style is far too wordy for my tastes
Synonyms of wordy

circuitous, circumlocutory, diffuse, garrulous, logorrheic, long-winded, pleonastic, prolix, rambling, verbose, windy
Words Related to wordy

chatty, communicative, conversational, gabby, loquacious, talkative, talky, voluble

periphrastic

redundant, repetitious, tautological, tautologous

embellished, embroidered, exaggerated

bombastic, gaseous, gassy, grandiloquent, highfalutin (also hifalutin)
Near Antonyms of wordy

brief, short

aphoristic, epigrammatic, sententious

compendious, summary

abbreviated, abridged, condensed, shortened

abrupt, blunt, brusque (also brusk), curt, laconic, snippy
Antonyms of wordy

compact, concise, crisp, pithy, succinct, terse

2 of or relating to words or language

  • the neighborhood dispute escalated into a wordy war conducted through angry letters to the editor in the local paper
Synonyms of wordy

lexical, linguistic (also linguistical), rhetorical (also rhetoric), verbal, vocabular
Words Related to wordy

communicative, conversational
Antonyms of wordy

nonlexical, nonlinguistic, nonverbal

Synonym Discussion of wordy

wordy, verbose, prolix, diffuse mean using more words than necessary to express thought. wordy may also imply loquaciousness or garrulity.
    • a wordy speech
verbose suggests a resulting dullness, obscurity, or lack of incisiveness or precision.
    • the verbose position papers
prolix suggests unreasonable and tedious dwelling on details.
    • habitually transformed brief anecdotes into prolix sagas
diffuse stresses lack of compactness and pointedness of style.
    • diffuse memoirs that are so many shaggy-dog stories

Learn More about wordy

  1. See words that rhyme with wordy Dictionary: Definition of wordy Spanish Central: Translation of wordy Nglish: Translation of wordy for Spanish speakers

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up wordy? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show comments hide comments

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games