🗣️ Use of words 📝 Too many words

verbalism

9.1

An excess of words that do not add meaning

noun
/ˈvɜːrbəlɪzəm/

: verbalismo

The professor criticized the student's essay for its excessive verbalism, which added little to the argument.

Examples

When a word is deprived of its dimension of action, reflection automatically suffers as well; and the word is changed into idle chatter, into verbalism, into an alienated and alienating "blah."

Academic text (2001)
The high school students also raised the issue of "verbalism" or parroting (speaking without understanding) when studying from tapes.

Academic text (2006)
This result is explained by a concept known as "verbalism." Vander-Kolk (1977) explains that people who lose their sight early on can learn words in a verbal and literal manner while not comprehending them at the concrete and functional level.

Academic text (1997)
In their meeting, the team leader noticed a tendency towards verbalism, with members using long explanations instead of getting to the point.
During the debate, her verbalism frustrated the audience, as they wanted concise responses rather than lengthy speeches.

Synonyms

verbiage

vsverbalism

11 8.1

Language that uses too many words and is hard to understand

focuses on empty excess rather than stylistic complication

verbosity

vsverbalism

1 7.3

Using more words than needed when speaking or writing

highlights empty overabundance that adds no substance or meaning

wordiness

vsverbalism

1 4.8

Using more language than needed in writing or speech

points to surplus words that fail to add real meaning

prolixity

vsverbalism

Formal

1 9.9

A habit of using too many words that makes people bored

highlights excess wording that adds little or no substance

long-windedness

vsverbalism

1 7.5

Talking or writing with too many words makes people bored

is about prolonged empty speech that adds no real meaning

verbality

vsverbalism

9.5

Speech or writing that uses too many words

focuses on adding many words that add no real meaning

verboseness

vsverbalism

7.4

Using more words than needed so speech or writing is hard to follow

emphasizes pointless excess that does not add substance

prolixness

vsverbalism

Formal

9.9

The use of too many words that makes speech or writing long and boring

stresses prolonged wording that adds no useful meaning

pleonasm

vsverbalism

9.9

A phrase that uses more words than needed

is broader excess of words rather than specific redundancy

periphrasis

vsverbalism

Literature

9.9

Using more words than needed to say something in a roundabout way

is about useless word excess, not only indirect phrasing

talkiness

vsverbalism

6.8

Speaking or writing with more words than needed and making the meaning unclear

typically denotes empty excess rather than merely chatty speech

Antonyms

conciseness

1 5.5

Saying something clearly with few words

How Wordy

verbalism

9.1

brevity

14 5.3

Surface Forms

verbalism singular

verbalisms plural

Morphology

verbalism = verbal (semi-transparent) = verbal + ism

Although formed from 'verbal' + '-ism', the evaluative sense 'excessive wordiness' is a specialized, pejorative extension not entirely predictable from the components.

Etymology

Verbalism can also mean using too many words; it shares the root verbum 'word' and is like the word verbose 'using many words'. That's why verbalism can describe speech or writing that uses many words but adds little meaning.