lengthy

[ lengk-thee, leng-, len- ]

/ ˈlɛŋk θi, ˈlɛŋ-, ˈlɛn- /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR lengthy ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, length·i·er, length·i·est.

having or being of great length; very long: a lengthy journey.

tediously verbose; very long; too long: a lengthy speech.

Nearby words

Origin of lengthy

An Americanism dating back to 1680–90; length + -y¹

Related formslength·i·ly, adverblength·i·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for lengthily

If it had been on the rotation of my crops, I would have answered myself, lengthily perhaps, but certainly con gusto.
Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson|Thomas Jefferson
Never before in his life had Mark spoken so eloquently nor so lengthily.
Janet of the Dunes|Harriet T. Comstock
He lengthily accused Grousset of having stolen paper in order to print his journal; another of having lived with a mistress.
History of the Commune of 1871|P. Lissagary
In any case, it is the one which has been the most perseveringly, lengthily and carefully studied by highly competent men.
Mrs. Piper & the Society for Psychical Research|Michael Sage

A Conservative speech is as accurately (though perhaps not as lengthily) reported in a Liberal paper as in one of its own colour.
The Land of Contrasts|James Fullarton Muirhead

British Dictionary definitions for lengthily

lengthy

/ (ˈlɛŋkθɪ, ˈlɛŋθɪ) /

adjective lengthier or lengthiest

of relatively great or tiresome extent or duration

Derived Formslengthily, adverblengthiness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for lengthily

lengthy

adj.

1759, American English, from length + -y (2). Until c.1840 always characterized in British English as an Americanism.

This word has been very common among us, both in writing and in the language of conversation; but it has been so much ridiculed by Americans as well as Englishmen, that in writing it is now generally avoided. Mr. Webster has admitted it into his dictionary; but as need hardly be remarked it is not in any of the English ones. It is applied by us, as Mr. Webster justly observes, chiefly to writings or discourses. Thus we say, a lengthy pamphlet, a lengthy sermon, &c. The English would say, a long or (in the more familiar style) a longish sermon. [John Pickering, "A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases Which Have Been Supposed to be Peculiar to the United States of America," Boston, 1816]

Related: Lengthily; lengthiness.