prolix
Americanadjective
-
extended to great, unnecessary, or tedious length; long and wordy.
- Synonyms:
- verbose, protracted
-
(of a person) given to speaking or writing at great or tedious length.
- Synonyms:
- verbose
adjective
-
(of a speech, book, etc) so long as to be boring; verbose
-
indulging in prolix speech or writing; long-winded
Synonym Usage
See wordy.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of prolix
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin prōlixus “extended, long,” equivalent to prō- pro- 1 + -lixus, akin to līquī “to flow”; see liquor
Explanation
A book that feels like it is several hundred pages longer than it needs to be is prolix. The word simply means that something has too many words and goes on too long. To avoid being called prolix, we'll keep this short. Prolix means using more words than necessary. For a less formal word choice try wordy, verbose, long-winded or drawn out.
Vocabulary lists containing prolix
The Scarlet Letter
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100 SAT words Beginning with "P"
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Talk the Talk: Synonyms for "Wordy"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The world premiere, “Have We Met?!,” choreographed by Juliano Nunes, is a 33-minute, two-part, prolix affair for two featured couples.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2025
A certain type of actor thrives in these prolix circumstances.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2021
Re-creating Odysseus’s trip from Troy to Ithaca, they touch on everything from Mick Jagger to mortality, with the witty banter of a prolix Hope and Crosby and the delicacy of a dragonfly’s wing.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 7, 2020
But the notoriously prolix president - whose 2012 speech for Barack Obama ran nearly 50 minutes - was kept to five minutes during the tight, all-online convention.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 18, 2020
I flatter myself that readers will be found to appreciate the brilliant, though prolix and desultory, portraiture of life in Venice during the last century which these "useless memoirs" offer to their imagination.
From The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi; Volume the First by Gozzi, Carlo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
