verbiage

English

Etymology

From French verbiage. The English equivalent can possibly be analysed as verb (a word indicating an action) + -age.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜː(ɹ).bi.ɪd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝ.bi.ɪd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Noun

verbiage (countable and uncountable, plural verbiages)

1. Overabundance of words.
   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 39:

     A very garrulous person, he approached the counter in a fog of verbiage.

2. The manner in which something is expressed in words.

   bureaucratic verbiage

   • 1846, Margaret Thornley, The True End of Education and the Means Adapted to It:

     The comparison of coincidences in the verbiage of different languages, and affinity of etymological formation, are interesting subjects of philological investigation.

   • 1947, George S. Patton, War as I Knew It:

     Use concise military verbiage.

Usage notes

Because of the pejorative connotation of the primary definition of verbiage it is preferred to use diction, phrasing, etc. to describe the manner in which something is expressed in words.

Translations

overabundance of words

• Belarusian: шматсло́ўнасць f (šmatslóŭnascʹ), шматсло́ўе n (šmatslóŭje), пустасло́ўе n (pustaslóŭje), словаблу́дства n (slovablúdstva)
• Bulgarian: многосло́вие (bg) n (mnogoslóvie)
• Catalan: xerrameca (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: woordenvloed (nl) m
• Finnish: sanahelinä (fi), sanapaljous
• French: verbiage (fr) m
• German: Wortschwall (de) m
• Irish: foclachas m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ordgyteri n

• Polish: gadanina (pl) f
• Portuguese: palavrório (pt)
• Russian: многосло́вие (ru) n (mnogoslóvije), пустосло́вие (ru) n (pustoslóvije), словоблу́дие (ru) n (slovoblúdije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пра̏зносло̄вље n

  Roman: prȁznoslōvlje (sh) n

• Spanish: verborrea (es) f, palabrería (es)
• Ukrainian: багатослі́вність (uk) f (bahatoslívnistʹ), марнослі́в'я n (marnoslívʺja), марносло́вство n (marnoslóvstvo), пустослі́в'я n (pustoslívʺja), словоблу́дство n (slovoblúdstvo), словоблу́ддя n (slovoblúddja)
• Welsh: geiriogrwydd m

See also

• wordage

French

Etymology

From Middle French verbier + -age.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛʁ.bjaʒ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

verbiage m (countable and uncountable, plural verbiages)

1. verbiage

   Synonym: (colloquial) blablabla

Further reading

• “verbiage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.