If you describe a person or a piece of writing as verbose, you are critical of them because they use more words than are necessary, and so make you feel bored or annoyed.
[formal, disapproval]
...verbose politicians.
His writing is difficult and often verbose.
Synonyms: long-winded, wordy, garrulous, windy More Synonyms of verbose
verbosity (vəʳbɒsɪti)uncountable noun
Truscott's verbosity made it hard to separate plain fact from decorative embellishment.
Synonyms: long-windedness, rambling, verbiage, wordiness More Synonyms of verbose
verbose in British English
(vɜːˈbəʊs)
adjective
using or containing an excess of words, so as to be pedantic or boring; prolix
Derived forms
verbosely (verˈbosely)
adverb
verbosity (vɜːˈbɒsɪtɪ) or verboseness (verˈboseness)
noun
Word origin
C17: from Latin verbōsus from verbum word
verbose in American English
(vərˈboʊs)
adjective
using or containing too many words; wordy; long-winded; prolix
SIMILAR WORDS: ˈwordy
Derived forms
verbosely (verˈbosely)
adverb
verbosity (verˈbosity) (vərˈbɑsəti)
noun or verˈboseness
Word origin
L verbosus, full of words < verbum, word
Examples of 'verbose' in a sentence
verbose
Not that he was verbose: most often when he made any comments on such matters he addressed them to himself.
various & introduction by Deirdre Chapman A ROOMFUL OF BIRDS - SCOTTISH SHORT STORIES 1990 (1995)
Jovial and verbose, Godfrey hat been friendly to me ever since I had come to Pontywen.
Secombe, Fred GOODBYE CURATE (1995)
Jones and Martin, still verbose as ever, simply stayed on the couch.
Dreyer, Eileen BAD MEDICINE (1995)
(adjective)
Definition
using more words than is necessary
When drunk, he becomes pompous and verbose.
Synonyms
long-winded
The manifesto is long-winded and repetitious.
wordy
His speech is full of wordy rhetoric.
garrulous
boring, garrulous prose
windy
I have a horror of turning into a windy old bore.
diffuse
His writing is so diffuse that it is almost impossible to understand.
prolix
tautological
circumlocutory
periphrastic
pleonastic
Opposites
short
,
brief
,
concise
,
reticent
,
terse
,
curt
,
succinct
,
brusque
,
quiet
,
untalkative
Additional synonyms
in the sense of diffuse
Definition
lacking conciseness
His writing is so diffuse that it is almost impossible to understand.