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
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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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.
Ripa’s reality was slightly different, according to last month’s People cover story spotlighting the talk-show personality and her book, “Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories.”
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 10, 2022
In a recent interview with People, Ripa spoke of the difficulties she had when writing about her time with Philbin in her new book, “Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories.”
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 27, 2022
She worked at first for Harper's Bazaar, but in the 1940s her work caught the eye of New Yorker Editor William Shawn, who encouraged her to do the Long-Winded Lady pieces and stories as well.
From Time Magazine Archive
For 20 years now, Maeve Brennan's sharp-eyed alter ego, "the Long-Winded Lady," has been posting bulletins about the city and its inhabitants in The New Yorker's "Talk of the Town" section.
From Time Magazine Archive
The devotion to low-key fiction and gentlemanly criticism has persisted, as have the horse-racing column and such self-mocking images as Eustace Tilly and an imaginary correspondent called "The Long-Winded Lady."
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
