volubile
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle French volubile, from Latin volūbilis (“rolling”), from volvō (“I roll”). Doublet of voluble.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
volubile (comparative more volubile, superlative most volubile)
- (chiefly botany) Turning or whirling; winding.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- […] or this less volubil earth,
By shorter flight to th' east,
had left him there
Arraying with reflected purple and gold
The clouds that on his western throne attend.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “volubile”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
French edit
Etymology edit
Learned borrowing from Latin volūbilis.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
volubile (plural volubiles)
- talkative (talking a great deal with ease, and quickly changing subjects)
- inconstant, changeable, variable
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- “volubile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Interlingua edit
Adjective edit
volubile (comparative plus volubile, superlative le plus volubile)
Italian edit
Etymology edit
Probably borrowed from Latin volūbilis (“turning”).
Adjective edit
volubile (plural volubili)
Related terms edit
Latin edit
Adjective edit
volūbile
Middle French edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Latin volūbilis.
Adjective edit
volubile m or f (plural volubiles)
Descendants edit
- French: volubile
References edit
- volubile on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)