What does a sesquipedalian mean?
What does a sesquipedalian mean?
Definition of sesquipedalian 1 : having many syllables : long sesquipedalian terms. 2 : given to or characterized by the use of long words a sesquipedalian television commentator.
What kind of person is a sesquipedalian?
sesquipedalian (plural sesquipedalians) A long word. quotations ▼ A person who uses long words.
What are some sesquipedalian words?
Full list of words from this list:
- Schadenfreude. delight in another person’s misfortune.
- sesquipedalian. a very long word (a foot and a half long)
- chutzpah. unbelievable gall; insolence; audacity.
- largesse. liberality in bestowing gifts.
- ninny. a stupid foolish person.
- oracular.
- deleterious.
- milksop.
What do you call a person who always uses big words?
Sesquipedalian can also be used to describe someone or something that overuses big words, like a philosophy professor or a chemistry textbook. If someone gives a sesquipedalian speech, people often assume it was smart, even if they don’t really know what it was about because they can’t understand the words.
Where did the word sesquipedalian come from?
sesquipedalian (n.) 1610s, “person or thing a foot and a half long,” from Latin sesquipedalia “a foot-and-a-half long,” from sesqui- “half as much again” (see sesqui-) + stem of pes “foot” (from PIE root *ped- “foot”).
What is a synonym for sesquipedalian?
Polysyllabic. Pompous or fulsome in style. Tediously long in speaking.
How do you use the word sesquipedalian?
He was indebted to a ruse of Aunt Margaret for his historic and sesquipedalian name. He said that when it took a whole basketful of sesquipedalian adjectives to whoop up a thing of beauty, it was time for suspicion. That colored orator and model letter-writer must look to his sesquipedalian fame.
Who coined sesquipedalian?
poet Horace
Background – sesquipedalian The origins of the word sesquipedalian go right back to Roman times, when the poet Horace (65BC-8BC) coined the expression sesquipedalia verba, meaning literally ‘words a foot and a half long’.
Does using big words make you smart?
Using big, “five-dollar words” (as my 5th grade teacher once called them) seems like an obvious way to achieve this—but, as recent research shows, it’s almost guaranteed to backfire. It turns out that trying too hard to sound smart by using big, scholarly sounding words actually makes you sound dumber.
How do big words sound smart?
The top five words most likely to make someone sound smarter are “articulate,” “accolade,” “brevity,” “adulation,” and “anomaly.”
What does Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness mean?
Advertisement: Sesquipedalian: A long word, or characterized by the use of long words. From the Latin roots meaning “a foot-and-a-half long.” Loquaciousness: That would be garrulousness, verboseness, effusiveness.
What does Incomprehensibilities mean?
extremely difficult to understand
/ɪnˌkɒm.prɪˌhen.səˈbɪl.ə.ti/ the state of being impossible or extremely difficult to understand: He worried about the document’s sheer incomprehensibility.
What is Sesquipedalian loquaciousness?
Why some people use big words?
It seems to be working. More than three quarters respondents believed that using big words or a complex vocabulary makes someone seem smarter. The top five words most likely to make someone sound smarter are “articulate,” “accolade,” “brevity,” “adulation,” and “anomaly.”
What do you call someone who is clever with words?
genius. adjective. informal very clever or original.
Are people who use big words smarter?
In a poll of more than 1,900 people, commissioned by Preply, 56 percent assume that someone with a complex vocabulary is very smart. Nearly four in five (78%) add that using big words makes someone seem even smarter than they might be. “Having a large vocabulary can be important in more ways than one.
How many syllables are in Sesquipedalian?
Wondering why sesquipedalian is 6 syllables? Contact Us!