long-winded
Americanadjective
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talking or writing at tedious length.
long-winded after-dinner speakers.
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continued to a tedious length in speech or writing.
another of his long-winded election speeches.
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able to breathe deeply; not tiring easily.
adjective
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tiresomely long
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capable of energetic activity without becoming short of breath
Other Word Forms
- long-windedly adverb
- long-windedness noun
Etymology
Origin of long-winded
First recorded in 1580–90
Explanation
Someone who's long-winded takes way too long to tell a story or give a speech. Once your long-winded history teacher gets started on an anecdote about the Civil War, everyone in the class sighs deeply. A long-winded explanation is one that uses many words when just a few would do. And your grandfather's long-winded toasts before Thanksgiving dinner inevitably end in everyone's food getting cold before they can start eating it. An older meaning of this word was "able to do something for a long time without losing one's breath," but the modern definition dates from the 1580s, when it specifically meant "given to lengthy speeches."
Vocabulary lists containing long-winded
Idioms and Expressions, List 4
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Idioms and Expressions, List 4
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The Elephant Girl
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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.
It also writes instructions on the kind of responses you prefer: less enthusiastic writing, perhaps, or bullet points instead of long-winded paragraphs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026
What has gotten out of hand is this litany of long-winded toasts.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 29, 2025
There was long-winded indulgence and lovely itty-bitty works, over in a flash but suggestive of a full and lovely life, like that of an insect.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2025
I could give you a very long-winded response to that, but I think the shortest way to say is that the word "protest" is in the word "Protestant."
From Salon • May 26, 2025
Toby had a pretty good idea of what an oracle was but he decided to ask Mrs. Granger about it, in the hopes of getting her started on one of her long-winded explanations.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
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.
