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polysyllable

American  
[pol-ee-sil-uh-buhl, pol-ee-sil-] / ˈpɒl iˌsɪl ə bəl, ˌpɒl iˈsɪl- /

noun

  1. a polysyllabic word.


polysyllable British  
/ ˈpɒlɪˌsɪləbəl /

noun

  1. a word consisting of more than two syllables

"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

Etymology

Origin of polysyllable

First recorded in 1560–70; poly- + syllable

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.

She can still make something unmailable out of the twitch of a feather or a polysyllable.

From Time Magazine Archive

He never chooses a monosyllable when a polysyllable will do.

From Time Magazine Archive

Australians on the whole realize that multiculturalism, that forbiddingly bureaucratic polysyllable responsible for so much hot air, really means learning to read other people's image banks, not a forced renunciation of one's own.

From Time Magazine Archive

"I've been performing my ablutions," he said, rolling out the last word with great emphasis and pomposity, for, like many Scotchmen, he had the greatest possible reverence for a sonorous polysyllable.

From The Firm of Girdlestone by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

The German, not less than the Greek, is a polysyllable language.

From Biographia Literaria by Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

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