1
as in rambling
using or containing more words than necessary to express an idea
her writing style is far too wordy for my tastes
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2
as in rhetoric
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
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Recent Examples of wordy
Getting this into English would be clunky and far too wordy to fit into Quino’s word bubbles.
—
Lily Meyer, The Dial, 20 May 2025
Though some critics at the time were exasperated by having to read such a big, wordy book, The Times selected it as one of the best books of the year.
—Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2025
In the clip, Harris gave a wordy answer when asked about Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Apr. 2025
Payton has said, both with Nix and Russell Wilson before, that the main point of the band is to shorten some of the wordiest play calls.
—Parker Gabriel, The Denver Post, 4 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wordy
Lily Meyer, The Dial, 20 May 2025
Though some critics at the time were exasperated by having to read such a big, wordy book, The Times selected it as one of the best books of the year.
—Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2025
In the clip, Harris gave a wordy answer when asked about Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Apr. 2025
Payton has said, both with Nix and Russell Wilson before, that the main point of the band is to shorten some of the wordiest play calls.
—Parker Gabriel, The Denver Post, 4 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wordy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wordy
Adjective
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In the past several years, Edge had filed a string of civil lawsuits with rambling, sometimes conspiratorial claims.—
Zoe Sottile,
CNN Money,
28 Sep. 2025
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Kiehne was frustrated with the Joneses because the county government wouldn’t grade the dirt road up to his ranch, a rambling territory along the New Mexico border.—
Mitch Moxley,
Rolling Stone,
27 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Video posted on Facebook shows a tree service worker leaning an extremely tall ladder up to an enormous tree in order to rescue a very talkative — and thankful — black cat.—
TJ Macias,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
27 Oct. 2025
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Mbeumo, nicknamed Brice, was not shy at football but talkative and funny.—
Charlotte Harpur,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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In a statement, the agency said officers issued multiple verbal commands for the driver to stop before opening fire when the vehicle continued to reverse toward them.—
Billal Rahman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
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James finds the wit in every line of Perkins’ script, playing his characters straight and with emotional depth while still showing an unerring instinct for where to place his verbal emphasis for maximum laughs as well as horror.—
Jim Hemphill,
IndieWire,
24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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In 1949, a young American artist named Ray Johnson left Black Mountain College near Asheville, N.C., moved to New York City and began to explore his prolix talents, both visual and verbal.—
Roberta Smith,
New York Times,
30 May 2024
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His answer is this book: a laudably sincere, exasperatingly prolix and occasionally affecting rumination on the state of Egypt—its society, culture, history and politics—pegged to the maddening bureaucracy of the archive.—
Kapil Komireddi,
WSJ,
12 Mar. 2023
Adjective
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Rethinking Charleston Receipts Like other books about Lowcountry life in that era, the pages are peppered with Gullah Geechee verses, the linguistic heritage of the West African descendants who live in the region, along with English interpretations.—
Adrian Miller,
Southern Living,
28 Oct. 2025
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While for many Americans speaking another language is seen as something extraordinary, true empowerment when traveling comes from embracing linguistic diversity, not expecting the entire world to speak English.—
Wilson Santiago Burgos,
USA Today,
26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The uncertainty has been hard, even with suppliers being communicative and transparent.—
Roxana Popescu,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
23 Oct. 2025
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That started in huddles, with a demonstrably more communicative Jokic.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
22 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Wordy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wordy. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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