prolix

English

WOTD – 25 June 2009    

Etymology

From Latin prōlixus (“courteous, favorable”).

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

prolix (comparative more prolix, superlative most prolix)

1. Tediously lengthy.
   • 1843, "Bossi—Necrologia G. C. Leonardo Sismondi.", vol. LXXII, issue CXLIV, p. 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.

2. Tending to use large or obscure words, which few understand.

Synonyms

• (tediously lengthy): bombastic, long-winded, verbose, wordy
• See also Wikisaurus:verbose

Antonyms

• (tediously lengthy): concise, terse

Translations

tediously lengthy

• Catalan: prolix (ca)
• Czech: zdlouhavý (cs)
• Dutch: langdradig (nl)
• Finnish: pitkäpiimäinen (fi)
• French: prolixe (fr) m and f, fastidieux (fr), verbeux (fr), phraseur (fr), raseur (fr) (colloquial)
• German: weitschweifig (de)
• Hungarian: terjengős (hu), hosszadalmas (hu)

• Italian: prolisso (it), verboso (it)
• Japanese: (usually written using only kana) 諄々しい (ja) (くどくどしい, kudokudoshii)
• Macedonian: развлечен (mk) (rázvlečen) m, преопширен (mk) (preópširen) m
• Maori: autaki (mi)
• Russian: долгий (ru) (dolgij), длительный (ru) (dlitelʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: fadalach (gd), màirnealach (gd), liosta (gd)
• Spanish: prolijo (es) m, fastidioso (es), verboso (es), (colloquial) chicharra (es)
• Tagalog: mahabang talumpati (tl)

tending to use large or obscure words, which few understand

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

• Macedonian: преречит (mk) (prérečit) m
• Russian: нудный (ru) (nudnyj), занудный (ru) (zanudnyj), многословный (ru) (mnogoslovnyj), (somewhat, about a person) многоречивый (ru) (mnogorečivyj)
• Spanish: pedante (es), sabihondo (es), sabidillo (es)
• Swedish: omständig (sv)

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin prōlixus (“courteous, favorable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɾuˈɫiks/, X-SAMPA: /p4u"5iks/
• Rhymes: -iks
• Homophone: prolixs

Adjective

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

1. prolix