verbalityn.
/vəːˈbalᵻti/, U.S. /vərˈbælədi/ 1.
a. The quality or fact of being (merely) verbal; speech or writing, esp. when long-winded, verbose, or lacking in meaning, substance, value, a basis in reality, etc.; verbalism.In quot. 1610 with specific reference to excessive preoccupation with the words used to express or convey something (cf. verbalism n. 3).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > linguistic unit > word > [noun] > concern merely with words
verbality1610
1610 T. Morton Encounter against M. Parsons ii. ii. 33 In his next exception there is nothing but verbality, that is, a lauish trifling about words.
1645 Bp. J. Hall Peace-maker iv. 22 That it may appeare this controversie hath in it more verbality then matter.
?1760 J. Shebbeare Hist. Excellence & Decline Sumatrans II. iii. 57 Hurrying to the Senate, and pouring forth that Inundation of Verbality which gave Relief to his deluged Soul.
1816 J. Gilchrist Philos. Etymol. 251 Verbality is the covering which such quack philosophers as Kant and Stewart put over their poor, naked, false theories.
1877 W. R. Alger Life E. Forrest II. xxii. 767 He was no starveling fed on verbality and ceremony, no pigmy imitator or empty conformist.
1937 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 77 437 The individuals differed greatly in what they thought about, in the predominance of reality versus verbality.
2000 Italica 77 173 An entirely verbal performance was contrary to the Roman avant-garde's emphasis on imagery rather than verbality.
b. In plural. Verbal expressions or phrases, esp. when long-winded, verbose, or lacking in meaning, substance, value, a basis in reality, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > linguistic unit > phrase > [noun] > collectively
speakingsa1325
saying1340
verbalities1662
verbalism1800
1662 A. Petrie Compend. Hist. Catholick Church i. 417 Faining new words, and pratling of verbalities, realities, hecceities, and what other frivolous words they can devise, to paint and disguise their errors.
1828 R. Mills Let. 23 Nov. in Christian Reformer (1829) Feb. 65 To argue against the notion that the death of Christ rendered God placable..to encounter..the mere counterfeit verbalities of those preachers and writers who have not gone far enough into the system.
1899 W. James Talks to Teachers 257 We are stuffed with abstract conceptions, and glib with verbalities and verbosities.
1935 B. Malinowski Coral Gardens II. vi. vi. 246 The fact that the community are aware of the spell and know its wording is the most important clue to the appreciation of the verbalities of magic.
2013 San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News (Nexis) 24 June Kanye West's tabloid-titillating stunts and outlandish verbalities.
2. Grammar. The quality or fact of being, deriving from, or functioning as a verb.Apparently only attested in dictionaries before the mid 19th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > verb > [noun] > quality of
verbality1656
verbalness1968
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Verbality, a belongingness to a..verb.
1856 R. G. Latham Logic in its Applic. to Lang. 260 The sun dazzles our eyes—Here we have agent and object—doing and suffering—action and passion; and the verb has attained its maximum of verbality.
1884 tr. H. Lotze Logic i. i. 26 The forms of substantivity, adjectivity, and verbality [Ger. Verbalität].
1968 Bull. School Oriental & Afr. Stud. 31 198/1 A cline of verbality is established, extending from the ‘most verbal’..down to the ‘least verbal’ items like participial adjectives.
2003 Mod. Lang. Rev. 98 944 They have simply lost their verbality: the action contained in them has turned into a ‘verbal adjective’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1610