# word for using big words?



## maryp3177

What's an adjective for someone that uses $10 words when a 50 cent word will do nicely? I'm trying to describe how in academic articles on political theory that there are so many big words that the meaning and purpose of the article gets lost.


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## TrentinaNE

Pretentious?


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## foxfirebrand

TrentinaNE said:


> Pretentious?


A compulsive polysyllabricator?
.
.


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## Porteño

What about pedantic?


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## doodlebugger

Sesquipedalian?

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/1999/10/25.html


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## Vanda

*sesquipedalian*, adjective:
1. Given to or characterized by the use of long words.
2. Long and ponderous; having many syllables.



_Oops, post crossing!  _


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## la reine victoria

Doodlebugger and Vanda  

I think this is a wonderful word (which I admit to never having heard of) and one which I shall add to my vocabulary. 

(My late, dear old father, whenever I used a long word, used to say, "Where did you find that word?  Hanging on the bathroom door?  )

He would have had a lot to say about your offering.  





Thanks,
LRV


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## foxfirebrand

doodlebugger said:


> Sesquipedalian?


Ah yes-- that's the standard.  Couldn't think of it, so I coined something.
.
.


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## mgarizona

Nice to see 'sesquipedalian' getting so much respect. I suggested it in a similar thread a few months back and it attracted no attention. A great word for which we have Horace to thank.


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## EditAmerica

Hyperarticulate:  
\hi-per-ar-TIC-you-lit \


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## loladamore

I don't use big words. I'm hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobic.


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## french4beth

Hi Mary & welcome to the forums!

There's also pleonastic but this is the use of more words than necessary (not necessarily the size of the words).

Also: ostentatious.

Don't know why, but sesquipedalian sounds like some kind of early primate...


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## panjandrum

... and a very big welcome to maryp3177


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## loladamore

> ... and a very big welcome to maryp3177


 Sorry for not noticing that this was your first post (fortunately french4beth and panjandrum did!). Welcome!



maryp3177 said:


> I'm trying to describe how in academic articles on political theory that there are so many big words that the meaning and purpose of the article gets lost.


 
Academics often write in *purple prose*, or at least have the occasional *purple passage* in their articles.


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## loladamore

french4beth said:


> Don't know why, but sesquipedalian sounds like some kind of early primate...


 
How many feet would it have? Bi-, tri-.... sesqui. Or would _sesqui_ refer to the kind of legs or feet?


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## la reine victoria

Yes, Mary, welcome to the forums.!  

An excellent first post if I may say so.





Kind regards,
LRV


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## badgrammar

"sesquipedalian"...  I did not know that word either, and it is a beauty!  Excellent, excellent...


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## rsweet

I found a few to add.

*macroverbumsciolist*
1) a person who is ignorant of large words
2) a person who pretends to know a word, then secretly refers to a dictionary

*grandiloquent*
pompous or extravagant in language, style, or manner, esp. in a way that is intended to impress

*fustian*
pompous or pretentious speech or writing

LRV, when I was younger and used a big word, my dad used to say, "You do and you'll clean it up!"


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## la reine victoria

loladamore said:


> How many feet would it have? Bi-, tri-.... sesqui. Or would _sesqui_ refer to the kind of legs or feet?


 



Almost certainly the kind of feet, Lola.  Really, really long ones which allowed it to ski across snowy wastes as the first ice age approached.  





LRV


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## loladamore

Another couple of lovely words:

*bombastic* - grandiose but with little meaning, ostentatiously lofty in style 
*turgid *- (of language or style) tediously pompous or bombastic.


Edit: I love your explanation of _sesqui_, LRV!


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## mgarizona

loladamore said:


> How many feet would it have? Bi-, tri-.... sesqui. Or would _sesqui_ refer to the kind of legs or feet?


 
Horace's phrase was _verba sesquipedalia_ which would mean "words a foot and a half long'

Like 'sesquicentennial' means the 150th anniversary.


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## maxiogee

loladamore said:


> How many feet would it have? Bi-, tri-.... sesqui. Or would _sesqui_ refer to the kind of legs or feet?



Yes, it refers to the beast's ability to move its manifold feet sequentially 
When you've got 20+ it takes some concentration to get the rhythm right, I imagine.


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## la reine victoria

maxiogee said:


> Yes, it refers to the beast's ability to move its manifold feet sequentially
> When you've got 20+ it takes some concentration to get the rhythm right, I imagine.


 





Millipedes seem to do it well  (she said, continuing to go off topic).  

"This year is the sesquicentennial of my stone-built cottage", she added (truthfully) to get back on topic.  





LRV


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## panjandrum

Prolix is a good word, but it refers to the quantity of words and their obfuscatory characteristics rather than their length.


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## Porteño

What a great selection of words, especially that sesqui... thing! I'd never remember how to write it.


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## loladamore

panjandrum said:


> Prolix is a good word, but it refers to the quantity of words and their obfuscatory characteristics rather than their length.


 
*Obfuscatory* is a good word, too: very good indeed!


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## 50something

I agree with "grandiloquent", seems accurate to me.


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## scotu

Is there an English word for "big words"
....and a word for someone who chooses a big word when they could just as eaisly use a simple word.

thanks for your suggestions, scotu


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## KHS

Some possibilities:

complex word, multisyllabic word, difficult word, obfuscatory  word

Karen


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## setantaclaus

scotu said:


> Is there an English word for "big words"
> ....and a word for someone who chooses a big word when they could just as eaisly use a simple word.
> 
> thanks for your suggestions, scotu


 
In one sense, polysyllabic words are big or long words, although I think that you're looking for another sense, perhaps something along the lines of highfalutin or verbose language or speech. 

You could call somebody who uses such speech pompous or a pedant and maybe a logophile, although that's somebody who loves all words, not just big ones.


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## Yet Another Jefe

One who chooses to use them might be termed sesquipedalian.


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## Thomas Tompion

scotu said:


> Is there an English word for "big words"
> ....and a word for someone who chooses a big word when they could just as eaisly use a simple word.
> 
> thanks for your suggestions, scotu


 
The standard BE expression is long words - complicated, latinate, difficult: all these things are suggested by the adjective long.


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## scotu

Thank you all for the suggestions.

Jefe, I like your word so much I'm going to use it in my signature. Thanks.

edit: and it lead me to another interesting word:  *hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia = *Fear of big words


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## SwissPete

scotu said:


> *hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia = *Fear of big words


 
I thought it was hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia  .


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## scotu

SwissPete said:


> I thought it was hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia  .


 
wikidictionary suggests that hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is a deliberate mispelling just to make the word longer.


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## SwissPete

scotu said:


> wikidictionary suggests that hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is a deliberate mispelling just to make the word longer.


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## Dad1

verbiage is an option


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## nzfauna

"V*erbose*" might work?


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## sdgraham

nzfauna said:


> "V*erbose*" might work?



Verbose means to use more words than are necessary to describe a concept that can be expressed with fewer words or in less space or less time, particularly when the concept can be expressed more simply.

As an example, see the preceding sentence. Verbose doesn't have anything to do with using big words.

In view of some of the words offered on this thread, I wonder if anybody could use them without being guilty of that which they are describing.


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## Porteño

nzfauna said:


> "V*erbose*" might work?


 
I don't think so. Verbose applies to using more words than necessary and has nothing to to do specifically with long words.


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## nzfauna

Yeah, I knew that   I thought it might be good to describe the overall phenomenon of the piece of writing.  Just an idea.  I should have explained myself


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## Redfox007

polysyllabricator  						The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary. Click on a spelling suggestion below or try again using the search bar above.


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## JamesM

Yes, but sesquipedalian is in the dictionary.    (I think polysyllabricator was an invention of Foxfirebrand's.)


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## farhad_persona

-He likes using big/fancy words.
-high-flown rhetoric
-stilted style of writing


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