prolix

Contents

English

WOTD – 25 June 2009

Etymology

From Old French prolixe, from Latin prōlixus (“courteous, favorable”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹəʊ.lɪks/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹoʊˈlɪks/

Adjective

prolix (comparative more prolix, superlative most prolix)

1. Tediously lengthy; verbose; dwelling on trivial details.
   • 1843, G. C. Leonardo Sismondi., “Bossi—Necrologia”, in The Quarterly Review‎^[1], volume 72, number 144, page 333:

     People who have blamed [Jean Charles Léonard de] Sismondi as unnecessarily prolix cannot have considered the crowd of details presented by the history of Italy.

   • 2007, Nick Cave, We Call Upon The Author:

     Prolix! Prolix! Nothing a pair of scissors can't fix!

2. (obsolete) Long; having great length.

Synonyms

• (tediously lengthy): For semantic relationships of this term, see verbose in the Thesaurus.

Antonyms

• (tediously lengthy): For semantic relationships of this term, see concise in the Thesaurus.

Translations

tediously lengthy

• Catalan: prolix
• Czech: zdlouhavý (cs)
• Dutch: langdradig (nl)
• Finnish: pitkäpiimäinen (fi)
• French: prolixe (fr) m, f, fastidieux (fr), verbeux (fr), phraseur (fr), raseur (fr) (colloquial)
• German: weitschweifig (de)
• Hungarian: terjengős (hu), hosszadalmas (hu)
• Italian: prolisso (it), verboso (it), ridondante (it), iperverboso
• Japanese: (usually written using only kana) 諄々しい (くどくどしい, kudokudoshii), くどい (ja) (kudoi)

• Macedonian: развлечен m (rázvlečen), преопширен m (preópširen)
• Maori: autaki
• Portuguese: prolixo (pt)
• Russian: до́лгий (ru) (dólgij), дли́тельный (ru) (dlítelʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: fadalach, màirnealach, liosta
• Spanish: prolijo (es) m, fastidioso, verboso, (colloquial) chicharra (es)
• Swedish: långrandig (sv)
• Tagalog: mahabang talumpati

tending to use large or obscure words, which few understand

• Catalan: prolix
• Dutch: zwammerig, verbeus (nl), wollig (nl), breedsprakig (nl)
• Finnish: vaikeaselkoinen
• French: pédant (fr), cuistre (fr), savantasse (fr), abstrus (fr), abscons (fr)

• Macedonian: преречит m (prérečit)
• Russian: ну́дный (ru) (núdnyj), занудный (ru) (zanudnyj), многословный (ru) (mnogoslovnyj), (somewhat, about a person) многоречивый (ru) (mnogorečivyj)
• Spanish: pedante (es), sabihondo (es), sabidillo, prolijo (es)
• Swedish: omständlig (sv)

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin prōlixus (“courteous, favorable”).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /pɾuˈliks/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /pɾoˈliks/
• Rhymes: -iks
• Homophone: prolixs

Adjective

prolix (feminine prolixa, masculine plural prolixos, feminine plural prolixes)

1. prolix