prolix

prolix

English

WOTD – 25 June 2009

Etymology

From Old French prolixe, from Latin prōlixus (“stretched out; courteous, favorable”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹəʊ.lɪks/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹoʊˈlɪks/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊlɪks, -ɪks

Adjective

prolix (comparative more prolix, superlative most prolix)

1. Tediously lengthy; dwelling on trivial details.

   Synonyms: verbose; see also Thesaurus:verbose

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:concise

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], OCLC 24531354, page 298:

     "Give me but the luxury of answering to one of his prolix, contradictory speeches, and...I only ask the revenge of a reply."

   • 1843, G. C. Leonardo Sismondi., “Bossi—Necrologia”, in The Quarterly Review‎, volume 72, number 144, page 333:

     People who have blamed [Jean Charles Léonard de] Sismondi as unnecessarily prolix cannot have considered the crowd of details presented by the history of Italy.

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “Major Major Major Major”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, OCLC 1023879857, page 90:

     From General Peckem's office on the mainland came prolix bulletins each day headed by such cheery homilies as "Procrastination is the Thief of Time and "Cleanliness is Next to Godliness."

   • 1992 September 13, William Grimes, “The Ridiculous Vision of Mark Leyner”, in The New York Times‎, ISSN 0362-4331:

     Traditional narratives he found too prolix and discursive. "There's always 14 pages describing a lawn that you skip over," he says.

   • 2008, Nick Cave, Warren Ellis (lyrics and music), “We Call Upon The Author”, in Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:

     Prolix! Prolix! / Nothing a pair of scissors can't fix!

2. (obsolete) Long; having great length.

Related terms

• lax

Translations

tediously lengthy

Bulgarian: многословен (bg) (mnogosloven), излишно подробен (izlišno podroben) Catalan: prolix Czech: zdlouhavý (cs) Dutch: langdradig (nl) Finnish: pitkäpiimäinen (fi) French: prolixe (fr) m or f, fastidieux (fr), verbeux (fr), phraseur (fr), raseur (fr) (colloquial) German: weitschweifig (de) Hungarian: terjengős (hu), hosszadalmas (hu) Italian: prolisso (it), verboso (it), ridondante (it), iperverboso Japanese: (usually written using only kana) 諄々しい (くどくどしい, kudokudoshii), くどい (ja) (kudoi) Macedonian: развлечен m (razvlečen), преопширен m (preopširen) Maori: autaki Polish: przegadany Portuguese: prolixo (pt) Romanian: prolix (ro) Russian: затя́нутый (ru) (zatjánutyj), многосло́вный (ru) (mnogoslóvnyj) Scottish Gaelic: fadalach, màirnealach, liosta Spanish: prolijo (es) m, fastidioso (es), verboso (es), (colloquial) chicharra (es) Swedish: långrandig (sv) Tagalog: mahabang talumpati

long — see long

Further reading

• “prolix”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “prolix”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin prōlixus (“courteous, favorable”). Compare Spanish prolijo.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /pɾuˈliks/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /pɾoˈliks/
• Rhymes: -iks
• Homophone: prolixs

Adjective

prolix (feminine prolixa, masculine plural prolixos, feminine plural prolixes)

1. prolix

Derived terms

• prolixament

Related terms

• prolixitat

Further reading

• “prolix” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “prolix”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “prolix” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “prolix” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Romanian

Etymology

From French prolixe, from Latin prolixus.

Adjective

prolix m or n (feminine singular prolixă, masculine plural prolicși, feminine and neuter plural prolixe)

1. prolix

Declension

Declension of prolix

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	prolix		prolixă	prolicși	prolixe
	definite	prolixul		prolixa	prolicșii	prolixele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	prolix		prolixe	prolicși	prolixe
	definite	prolixului		prolixei	prolicșilor	prolixelor

Related terms

• prolixitate