Sesquipedalian

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sesquipedal \Ses*quip"e*dal\, Sesquipedalian
  \Ses`qui*pe*da"li*an\, a. [Sesqui- + pedal: cf. F.
     sesquip['e]dal, L. sesquipedalis.]
     Measuring or containing a foot and a half; as, a
     sesquipedalian pygmy; -- sometimes humorously applied to long
     words.


     [1913 Webster]
     [1913 Webster] Sesquipedalianism

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sesquipedalian
       adj 1: given to the overuse of long words; "sesquipedalian
              orators"; "this sesquipedalian way of saying one has
              no money"
       2: (of words) long and ponderous; having many syllables;
          "sesquipedalian technical terms" [syn: {polysyllabic}]
       n : a very long word (a foot and a half long) [syn: {sesquipedalia}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  43 Moby Thesaurus words for "sesquipedalian":
     Latinate, a mile long, awkward, bombastic, cramped, cumbrous,
     elephantine, extensive, far-flung, far-reaching, fargoing, forced,
     formal, grandiloquence, guinde, halting, hard word, heavy, inkhorn,
     interminable, jawbreaker, jawbreaking, labored, leaden, lengthy,
     lexiphanicism, long, long word, longish, longsome, lumbering,
     no end of, polysyllabic, polysyllable, pompous, ponderous,
     sesquipedal, stiff, stilted, tall, turgid, unwieldy, without end