verbose
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /vəˈbəʊs/
ipa: /vɚˈboʊs/
rhymes: -əʊs
Forms: form: more verbose
form: most verbose
Etymology: From Latin verbōsus (“prolix, wordy, verbose”) + English -ose (suffix meaning ‘full of; like’). Verbōsus is derived from verbum (“word”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *werh₁- (“to say, speak”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, overly, prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Equivalent to verb + -ose.
Senses: examples: text: I omit more than an Hundred Things, that would engage to perſonal Reflection; for my Soul hath no Pleaſure in ſtriving therein, as knowing the inconſiſtancy of that uncharitable virulent Temper with a Chriſtian Spirit, which I am aſſured is quite another Thing, from what is Verboſe, Abuſive[,] Cavilling, Airy, and meerly Notional; [...]
ref: 1672, W[illiam] P[enn], “To the Impartial Reader”, in The Spirit of Truth Vindicated, against that of Error & Envy; […], [London: […] Andrew Sowle ...], →OCLC, page 8:
text: [...] I might ſeem to deſerve juſtly to be accounted a verboſe and ſilly Defender; [...]
ref: 1692, John Milton, “The Author’s Preface”, in [Joseph Washington], transl., A Defence of the People of England, […]: In Answer to Salmasius’s Defence of the King, [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page i:
text: Thy ſonnet is a piece of verboſe fuſtian; and thy preface is compoſed of far-fetch'd expreſſions, vvords that have not the publick ſtamp, perplexed phraſes; in a vvord, thy ſtile is quite peculiar to thyſelf; […]
ref: 1751, [Alain-René Lesage], “Gil Blas Meets His Dear Friend Fabricius at Court: […]”, in [Tobias George Smollett], transl., The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane. […], 3rd edition, volume III, London: […] J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, book VII, page 87:
text: We mentioned as another of the faults of Dr. [Charles] Anthon's book, that it exhibited his usual verbose grandiloquence. [...] We objected, for instance, to the lexicon, as loaded with useless words; and we suggested that the probable cause was the desire of procuring for it the appearance of completeness and originality.
ref: 1840 October, “Art. XI.—Critical Notices. 1.—A Reply to an Attack on Anthon’s Greek Reader, in the North American Review for July, 1840. The Knickerbocker. Extra. New York. 8vo. pp. 11.”, in The North American Review, volume LI, number CIX, Boston, Mass.: Ferdinand Andrews, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 498:
text: So with sentences or the combinations of words. Much skill is required for their construction. They must convey your meaning accurately, and as far as possible in the natural order of thought, and yet they must not be complex, involved, verbose, stiff, ungainly, or tautological. They must be brief, but not curt; explicit, but not verbose. Here, again, good taste must be your guide, rather than rules which teachers propound, but which the pupil never follows.
ref: 1863, Edward W[illiam] Cox, “Letter VIII. Words—Sentences—Rhythm.”, in The Arts of Writing, Reading and Speaking, in Letters to a Law Student, London: John Crockford, […], →OCLC, page 51:
text: On the Furness section the sign at Grange is as brief—PASSENGERS MUST CROSS BY THE SUBWAY—as that at the next station, Arnside, is verbose: PASSENGERS ARE REQUESTED TO CROSS THE LINE BY THE BRIDGE. IT IS DANGEROUS TO CROSS THE RAILS.
ref: 1942 April, Bernard Fielding, “Crossing the Line”, in Railway Magazine, page 103:
text: In modern processors, you pay a bigger performance hit for having verbose code than for having an extra function call because larger code can cause secondary cache hits.
ref: 1999, Michael Hyman, Phani Vaddadi, “Dealing with Compiler-generated Code”, in Mike and Phani’s Essential C++ Techniques (Books for Professionals by Professionals), New York, N.Y.: Apress, →DOI, →ISBN, technique 46 (Wrap New to Save Space), page 40:
text: Some patients are especially difficult to interview. Recalcitrant patients, verbose patients, confused patients, patients whose command of the English language is limited, patients with hearing impairments, patients with aphasia, impatient patients, and patients hospitalized in isolation rooms all may be difficult to interview. [...] The best approach for recalcitrant or verbose patients is to exert firm control of the interview and ask directed questions to draw information from the recalcitrant patient and redirect the verbose patient.
ref: 2012, Karen J. Tietze, “Taking Medication Histories”, in Clinical Skills for Pharmacists: A Patient-focused Approach, 3rd edition, St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier Mosby, →ISBN, page 38, column 1:
antonyms: word: verbose
glosses: Containing or using more words than necessary; long-winded, wordy.
examples: text: You should use verbose logging sparingly. Turning on verbose logging for every process would result in log files so large they would become useless.
ref: 2001, Richard Blum, “Common Postfix Problems”, in Postfix, Indianapolis, Ind.: Sams Publishing, →ISBN, part III (Advanced Postfix Server Topics), page 532:
text: Verbose logging adds extra detail and increases the descriptiveness of the log entries made. Verbose logging also adds one additional client log file that is specific to DCM, SmsClrHost.log, and one management point log file, MP_GetSdmPackage.log.
ref: 2009, Kerrie Meyler, Byron Holt, Greg Ramsey [et al.], “Desired Configuration Management”, in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Unleashed, Indianapolis, Ind.: Sams Publishing, →ISBN, part III (Configuration Manager Operations):
text: For troubleshooting purposes, enable verbose logging for the WUA by following these steps: [...]
ref: 2015, Andre Della Monica, Chris Shilt, Russ Rimmerman, Rushi Faldu, “Understanding Software Update Architecture: Client Side”, in Mitch Tulloch, editor, Microsoft System Center: Software Update Management Field Experience, Redmond, Wash.: Microsoft Press, →ISBN, page 19:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Producing detailed output for diagnostic purposes.
Synonyms: word: circumlocutory
word: diffuse
word: periphrastic
word: palaverous
word: pleonastic
word: prolix
word: rigmarole
word: sesquipedalian
word: verbose
word: wordy
Hypernyms: word: digressive
word: discursive
word: excursive
word: extravagant
word: exuberant
word: lengthy
word: maundering
word: ostentatious
word: pretentious
word: profuse
word: protracted
word: rambling
word: redundant
word: roundabout
Hyponyms: word: bombastic
word: dreich
word: floaty
word: fustian
word: lexiphanic
word: long-winded
word: magniloquent
word: garrulous
word: grandiloquent
word: talkative
word: windy
Derived terms: verbosely
verboseness
Related terms: word: verbosity
word: florid
word: flowery