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Verbosity, or verboseness, is speech or writing that uses more words than necessary.[1] The opposite of verbosity is succinctness.[dubious – discuss]

Some teachers, including the author of The Elements of Style, warn against verbosity. Similarly Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway, among others, famously avoided it.

Synonyms of "verbosity" include wordiness, verbiage, loquacity, garrulousness, logorrhea, prolixity, grandiloquence, expatiation, sesquipedalianism, and overwriting.

Etymology and synonyms

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The word verbosity comes from Latin verbosus, "wordy". There are many other English words that also refer to the use of excessive words.

Prolixity comes from Latin prolixus, "extended". Prolixity can also be used to refer to the length of a monologue or speech, especially a formal address such as a lawyer's oral argument.[2]

Grandiloquence is complex speech or writing judged to be pompous or bombastic diction. It is a combination of the Latin words grandis ("great") and loqui ("to speak").[3]

Logorrhea or logorrhoea (from Greek λογόρροια, logorrhoia, "word-flux") is an excessive flow of words. It is often used pejoratively to describe prose that is hard to understand because it is needlessly complicated or uses excessive jargon.

Sesquipedalianism is a linguistic style that involves the use of long words. Roman poet Horace coined the phrase sesquipedalia verba in his Ars Poetica.[4] It is a compound of sesqui, "one and a half", and pes, "foot", a reference to meter (not words a foot long). The earliest recorded usage in English of sesquipedalian is in 1656, and of sesquipedalianism, 1863.[5]

Garrulous comes from Latin garrulus, "talkative", a form of the verb garrīre, "to chatter". The adjective may describe a person who is excessively talkative, especially about trivial matters, or a speech that is excessively wordy or diffuse[6]

The noun expatiation and the verb expatiate come from Latin expatiātus, past participle from spatiārī, "to wander". They refer to enlarging a discourse, text, or description.[7]

Overwriting is a simple compound of the English prefix "over-" ("excessive") and "writing", and as the name suggests, means using extra words that add little value. One rhetoric professor described it as "a wordy writing style characterized by excessive detail, needless repetition, overwrought figures of speech, and/or convoluted sentence structures."[8] Another writer cited "meaningless intensifiers", "adjectival & adverbial verbosity", "long conjunctions and subordinators", and "repetition and needless information" as common traps that the non-native writers of English the author studied fell into.[9]

Scientific jargon

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An essay intentionally filled with "logorrhea" that mixed physics concepts with sociological concepts in a nonsensical way was published by physics professor Alan Sokal in a journal (Social Text) as a scholarly publishing sting. The episode became known as the Sokal Affair.[10]

The term is sometimes also applied to unnecessarily wordy speech in general; this is more usually referred to as prolixity. Some people defend the use of additional words as idiomatic, a matter of artistic preference, or helpful in explaining complex ideas or messages.[11]

Examples

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Warren G. Harding, the 29th president of the United States, was notably verbose even for his era.[12] A Democratic leader, William Gibbs McAdoo, described Harding's speeches as "an army of pompous phrases moving across the landscape in search of an idea."[13]

The Michigan Law Review published a 229-page parody of postmodern writing titled "Pomobabble: Postmodern Newspeak and Constitutional 'Meaning' for the Uninitiated". The article consists of complicated and context-sensitive self-referencing narratives. The text is peppered with a number of parenthetical citations and asides, which is supposed to mock the cluttered style of postmodern writing.[14]

In The King's English, Fowler gives a passage from The Times as an example of verbosity:

The Emperor received yesterday and to-day General Baron von Beck.... It may therefore be assumed with some confidence that the terms of a feasible solution are maturing themselves in His Majesty's mind and may form the basis of further negotiations with Hungarian party leaders when the Monarch goes again to Budapest.[15]

Fowler objected to this passage because The Emperor, His Majesty, and the Monarch all refer to the same person: "the effect", he pointed out in Modern English Usage, "is to set readers wondering what the significance of the change is, only to conclude that there is none." Fowler called this tendency "elegant variation" in his later style guides.

Style advice

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The ancient Greek philosopher Callimachus is quoted as saying "Big book, big evil" (μέγα βιβλίον μέγα κακόν, mega biblion, mega kakon),[16] rejecting the epic style of poetry in favor of his own.[clarification needed]

Many style guides advise against excessive verbosity. While it may be rhetorically useful[1] verbose parts in communications are sometimes referred to as "fluff" or "fuzz".[17] For instance, William Strunk, an American professor of English advised in 1918 to "Use the active voice: Put statements in positive form; Omit needless words."[18]

In A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) Henry Watson Fowler says, "It is the second-rate writers, those intent rather on expressing themselves prettily than on conveying their meaning clearly, & still more those whose notions of style are based on a few misleading rules of thumb, that are chiefly open to the allurements of elegant variation," Fowler's term for the over-use of synonyms.[19] Contrary to Fowler's criticism of several words being used to name the same thing in English prose, in many other languages, including French, it is considered a good writing style.[20][21]

An inquiry into the 2005 London bombings found that verbosity can be dangerous if used by emergency services. It can lead to delay that could cost lives.[22]

A 2005 study from the psychology department of Princeton University found that using long and obscure words does not make people seem more intelligent. Dr. Daniel M. Oppenheimer did research which showed that students rated short, concise texts as being written by the most intelligent authors. But those who used long words or complex font types were seen as less intelligent.[23]

In contrast to advice against verbosity, some editors and style experts suggest that maxims such as "omit needless words"[18] are unhelpful. It may be unclear which words are unnecessary, or where advice against prolixity may harm writing. In some cases a degree of repetition and redundancy, or use of figurative language and long or complex sentences can have positive effects on style or communicative effect.[11]

In nonfiction writing, experts[who?] suggest that both concision and clarity are important: Elements that do not improve communication should be removed without rendering a style that is "too terse" to be clear, as similarly advised by law professor Neil Andrews on the writing and reasoning of legal decisions.[24] In such cases, attention should be paid to a conclusion's underlying argument so that the language used is both simple and precise.

A number of writers advise against excessive verbosity in fiction. For example, Mark Twain (1835–1910) wrote "generally, the fewer the words that fully communicate or evoke the intended ideas and feelings, the more effective the communication."[25] Similarly Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), the 1954 Nobel laureate for literature, defended his concise style against a charge by William Faulkner that he "had never been known to use a word that might send the reader to the dictionary."[26] Hemingway responded by saying, "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use."[27]

George Orwell mocked logorrhea in "Politics and the English Language" (1946) by taking verse (9:11) from the book of Ecclesiastes in the King James Version of the Bible:

I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

and rewriting it as

Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

In contrast, though, some authors warn against pursuing concise writing for its own sake. Literary critic Sven Birkerts, for instance, notes that authors striving to reduce verbosity might produce prose that is unclear in its message or dry in style. "There's no vivid world where every character speaks in one-line, three-word sentences," he notes.[28] There is a danger that the avoidance of prolixity can produce writing that feels unnatural or sterile.

Physicist Richard Feynman has spoken out against verbosity in scientific writing.[29]

Wordiness is common in informal or playful conversation, lyrics, and comedy. People with Asperger syndrome and autism often present with verbose speech.[30]

See also

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Look up verbose in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

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Further reading

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Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Verbosity

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Verbosity is the quality or state of being verbose, defined as the use of more words than necessary to express an idea or convey a , resulting in wordiness or superfluity in speech or writing. Also known as clutter, deadwood, or prolixity, it contrasts with principles of brevity and conciseness that prioritize clarity and efficiency in communication. The term originates from the 1540s, borrowed from verbosité or directly from verbōsitās, meaning "wordiness," derived from Latin verbōsus ("full of words") and ultimately from verbum ("word"). Its first known use in English dates to 1541, reflecting early critiques of excessive language in and oratory. In classical , verbosity has long been regarded as a stylistic fault that obscures meaning and diminishes persuasive impact, as warned in his Rhetoric that piling up words upon a plain sense only spoils its clearness. Modern linguistic and compositional analyses similarly view it as a barrier to effective communication, where excessive phrasing—such as long-winded constructions or redundant expletives—wastes reader time and reduces intelligibility, particularly in by non-native speakers. Examples of verbosity abound in everyday language, such as transforming "They arrived on time" into "They made their entrance at the precise moment anticipated," which adds unnecessary elaboration without enhancing the message. While occasionally employed for emphasis or stylistic flourish, unchecked verbosity often signals pomposity or a misguided attempt at sophistication, undermining the audience's engagement. Efforts to combat it, through editing for conciseness, improve readability and perceived professionalism, as evidenced by reader preferences for streamlined prose in scholarly surveys.

Introduction and Definition

Definition

Verbosity refers to the excessive use of words in speech or writing, resulting in communication that is unnecessarily lengthy and fails to add substantive value. This practice often dilutes the clarity and impact of the message, contrasting sharply with principles of succinctness or , which prioritize brevity while preserving meaning. Key characteristics of verbosity include the incorporation of superfluous details that do not enhance understanding, the repetition of ideas in varied phrasings without advancing the argument, and the employment of overly complex sentence structures that can obscure rather than illuminate the intended point. Such elements frequently arise from an attempt to appear more formal or authoritative, yet they tend to confuse readers or listeners and reduce overall effectiveness. Historically, critiques of verbosity trace back to ancient times, as exemplified by the Hellenistic poet , who warned against prolix works with his maxim "big book, big evil" (μέγα βιβλίον, μέγα κακόν), advocating instead for concise and refined expression. This early admonition underscores a longstanding recognition of verbosity's potential to undermine communicative precision.

Characteristics

Verbose language is characterized by the use of unnecessarily long or complex words when simpler alternatives would convey the same meaning, a practice known as sesquipedalianism. This trait often elevates the perceived formality of text but obscures clarity without adding substantive value. Overuse of the contributes similarly to verbosity by restructuring active sentences into more circuitous forms, such as changing "The team completed the report" to "The report was completed by the team," which introduces extra words and reduces directness. Filler phrases, like "in order to" instead of "to," further exemplify this by padding sentences without enhancing precision. Nominalizations, where verbs or adjectives are converted into nouns—such as "decide" becoming "the decision" or "refusal" from "refuse"—also promote wordiness by requiring additional verbs and prepositions to complete the thought, often resulting in weaker, less dynamic . Structurally, verbose writing frequently features sentences with multiple subordinate clauses, which elongate the text and complicate parsing. It often incorporates abstract jargon lacking concrete referents, prioritizing specialized terminology over accessible explanations and thereby alienating readers unfamiliar with the lexicon. Another indicator is "elegant variation," the unnecessary substitution of synonyms for stylistic variety, as when referring repeatedly to the same concept with different words like "vehicle," "automobile," and "car" in close proximity, which can confuse rather than clarify. These characteristics increase on readers by demanding greater mental effort to extract meaning from extended or convoluted structures. metrics quantify this effect; for instance, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score rises (indicating higher difficulty) with longer sentences and multisyllabic words, as per the 0.39×(wordssentences)+11.8×(syllableswords)−15.590.39 \times \left( \frac{\text{words}}{\text{sentences}} \right) + 11.8 \times \left( \frac{\text{syllables}}{\text{words}} \right) - 15.59. Verbose passages thus score lower on ease-of-reading scales, hindering comprehension and .

Etymology and Terminology

Etymology

The term "verbosity" entered English in the mid-16th century, with the earliest recorded use dating to 1541 in the writings of Richard Whitford, a English priest and translator. It was borrowed either directly from Late Latin verbōsitās or via Middle French verbosité, both denoting an abundance of words. The root lies in Latin verbōsus, an adjective meaning "full of words" or "wordy," which itself derives from verbum, the Latin word for "word" (from Proto-Indo-European *wer- "to speak"). In its early English applications during the 16th and 17th centuries, "verbosity" primarily critiqued rhetorical excess and superfluous in oratory and , as seen in texts addressing and where brevity was valued against prolixity. By the 19th and 20th centuries, the term evolved in usage to encompass broader condemnations of wordiness in written composition, appearing in style guides that promoted clarity and economy, such as early 20th-century manuals on effective which contrasted verbosity with concise expression. Related linguistic history includes influences from on terms denoting excessive speech, such as "logorrhea," coined in the early from Greek logos ("word" or "speech") and rhein ("to flow"), describing an uncontrollable flow of words akin to verbal . Greek laliá, meaning "talk" or "prattle," further shaped compounds like "" (repetitive speech), highlighting pathological or excessive verbosity in medical and psychological contexts.

Synonyms and Antonyms

Synonyms of verbosity include prolixity, which denotes the use of an excessive number of words, often resulting in tedious length or drawn-out expression. Grandiloquence refers to a pompous or bombastic style of speech or writing characterized by lofty, extravagantly colorful language. Logorrhea describes excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness, sometimes pathologically compulsive. Garrulousness involves rambling or pointlessly talkative speech, typically on trivial matters. Sesquipedalianism pertains to the habitual use of long, polysyllabic words, often to an ostentatious degree. Antonyms of verbosity encompass concision, the quality of expressing much in few words; succinctness, which emphasizes clarity and brevity without unnecessary details; brevity, the avoidance of superfluous length; and terseness, a concise style that is abrupt or curt in expression. These opposites align with principles like the "economy of words" in Hemingway's , where essential meaning is conveyed implicitly through omission, as outlined in his work Death in the Afternoon. Nuances among related terms highlight distinctions: verbosity generally indicates an overall excess of words, whereas specifically involves redundancy through unnecessary repetition or superfluity in phrasing, such as "free gift." Prolixity and garrulousness overlap with verbosity in length but emphasize tediousness or rambling, respectively, while grandiloquence adds a layer of pretentiousness not inherent in mere wordiness.

Contexts of Verbosity

In Writing and Literature

In literature, verbosity often serves as a deliberate literary device in , where elaborate descriptions and extended s mock pretentious characters or societal flaws, though it is frequently criticized for obscuring plot progression and diluting narrative momentum. For instance, employed a verbose style in novels like to exaggerate institutional absurdities, such as the pompous Mr. Bumble's self-importance, using intricate details and to critique Victorian social injustices like the Poor Law Act and thereby provoke reform through humor and . This approach contrasts with modern critiques of verbosity, where excessive elaboration can hinder reader engagement by prioritizing stylistic flourishes over clear storytelling. Victorian novels exemplified dense as a cultural norm, reflecting the era's emphasis on moral instruction and through comprehensive world-building, which immersed readers in intricate societal portraits but often extended narratives unnecessarily. In , verbosity manifests through unnecessary qualifiers like "somewhat," "very," or "to a certain extent," which inflate sentences and undermine authority by introducing undue hesitation, as seen in phrases such as "Freud seems to argue that..." instead of the direct "Freud argues that...". Similarly, journalistic writing sometimes indulges in "," characterized by overly ornate language and melodramatic descriptions that prioritize aesthetic excess over factual clarity, such as elaborate metaphors that distract from the core report. While verbosity can build atmospheric depth in —evoking immersive settings through detailed —it frequently induces reader by complicating comprehension, particularly when average sentence lengths exceed recommended limits of 15–20 words. Guidelines suggest avoiding sentences longer than 35 words to improve and . Filler phrases, such as redundant qualifiers, exacerbate this by padding content without adding value, further eroding focus in prolonged written forms.

In Speech and Rhetoric

In rhetorical traditions, verbosity has often manifested through elaborate styles that prioritize ornamentation over brevity. The Roman orator Cicero exemplified this in his adoption of the Asianist approach, characterized by an abundant, rhythmic, and florid style influenced by his studies in Asia Minor, which emphasized emotional appeal and vivid imagery to captivate audiences. However, this ornate manner was critiqued by Atticists, who favored the more concise and pure Attic Greek style, viewing Cicero's verbosity as excessive and potentially overwhelming, a tension that persists in modern rhetorical theory where clarity is prized to maintain persuasive impact. A deliberate form of verbosity appears in political through the , a tactic where speakers prolong debate to delay or block legislation, effectively using extended speech as obstruction. In the U.S. , for instance, filibusters require senators to hold the floor continuously, often reciting anecdotes or irrelevant material to exhaust time limits, as seen in historical examples like Strom Thurmond's 24-hour speech against the of 1957. This strategic verbosity tests endurance and public patience, highlighting how prolonged oration can serve partisan goals but invites criticism for evading substantive discussion. Common speech patterns contribute to unintentional verbosity in oral communication, such as rambling anecdotes that stray from the main point through tangential stories or details, diluting focus and extending delivery unnecessarily. Hedging , including phrases like "I believe that" or "sort of," softens assertions to convey or but, when overused, inflates and weakens rhetorical force in spoken . Similarly, repetition—while a classical device for emphasis, as in anaphora—becomes excessive when it reiterates ideas without progression, transforming into and testing audience . In social settings like debates and meetings, verbose speech can project by demonstrating depth of , yet it often risks audience disengagement as listeners lose interest in prolonged monologues. Organizational cultures that reward elaborate explanations may encourage this pattern, where speakers dominate discussions to assert dominance, but studies show it hinders and by sidelining concise input from others. In competitive debates, excessive verbosity might initially signal expertise but ultimately undermines if it obscures key arguments, leading to reduced listener retention and perceived ineffectiveness.

In Scientific and Technical Communication

In scientific and technical communication, verbosity often manifests through the overuse of jargon, acronyms, and passive constructions, which can obscure meaning and hinder clarity in research papers and reports. For instance, excessive reliance on acronyms without initial definitions forces readers to navigate dense text, while passive voice constructions like "it was determined that" instead of "we determined" inflate sentences without adding precision. This issue was dramatically highlighted by the Sokal Affair in 1996, where physicist Alan Sokal submitted a deliberately verbose and pseudoscientific paper titled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" to the journal Social Text, which accepted it as legitimate scholarship despite its nonsensical content and inflated rhetoric mimicking postmodern jargon. The hoax exposed how verbosity in academic writing can mask intellectual emptiness, particularly in interdisciplinary fields blending science and humanities, leading to widespread calls for clearer prose in scholarly publishing. Technical writing norms in professional organizations emphasize conciseness to combat verbosity, with style guides providing explicit guidelines to promote and . The IEEE Author Center advises authors to avoid unnecessary words, redundant phrases, and excessive passive constructions in manuscripts, recommending and direct language to ensure for global audiences in and fields. Similarly, the American Psychological Association (APA) style manual warns against verbosity in psychological and writing, instructing authors to eliminate wordy expressions and use precise terminology, as seen in its emphasis on clarity in the 7th edition guidelines. In grant proposals, verbosity can artificially inflate word counts to meet perceived length requirements, potentially diluting the proposal's impact. In modern contexts, the rise of AI-generated content has amplified verbosity risks in , particularly in high-stakes areas like where redundancy can introduce errors or misinterpretations. Large models, when used to draft reports, often produce repetitive phrasing and unnecessary elaborations. This trend underscores the need for hybrid human-AI workflows to mitigate verbosity's pitfalls in evidence-based fields.

Examples

Historical Examples

In classical , Greek orators often favored the style, characterized by brevity and simplicity to achieve clarity and persuasive force, as exemplified by ' concise Philippics that condemned without unnecessary elaboration. In contrast, Roman orators like embraced Asianism, a more florid and expansive approach that featured lengthy perorations—emotional conclusions designed to stir the audience—such as the extended closing appeals in his , where he amplified through repetitive and ornate phrasing to sway the . This divergence highlighted evolving cultural preferences: Greek emphasis on logical economy versus Roman inclination toward dramatic amplification for public spectacle. During the , American legal documents exemplified verbosity through convoluted phrasing and redundant terms, a legacy of English practices where scriveners were compensated by the word, incentivizing prolixity as seen in lengthy contracts and statutes like the Field Code revisions, which ballooned into multi-volume tomes filled with repetitive clauses to minimize ambiguity. This style persisted despite reforms, contributing to critiques of inaccessibility; for instance, had earlier decried such "endless tautologies" in statutory language, yet 19th-century bills like the expansions retained dense, layered provisions that obscured intent. In politics, Warren G. Harding's 1920 presidential campaign speeches embodied verbosity through vague, inflated rhetoric, as in his "" address, where abstract phrases like "not nostrums but normalcy" obscured policy details amid a barrage of sonorous but empty declarations. Contemporary observers, including Democratic leader , lampooned this as "an army of pompous phrases moving over the landscape in search of an idea," reflecting Harding's reliance on wordy platitudes to evade substantive debate during post-World War I disillusionment. Literary verbosity reached notable excess in Henry James's late novels, such as The Golden Bowl (1904), where dense, labyrinthine sentences—often spanning pages with nested clauses and psychological digressions—drew criticism for prioritizing stylistic intricacy over narrative momentum, as analyzed in scholarly examinations of his evolving prose toward abstraction and indirection. This approach, while innovative, prompted contemporaries like H.G. Wells to decry James's work as "a magnificent but painful hippopotamus of a book, resolved at any cost, even at the cost of its dignity, upon picking up a pebble," underscoring debates on whether such elaboration enriched character depth or merely obfuscated meaning. A pointed parody appeared in 1995 with "The World's Greatest Law Review Article" by Andrew McClurg, a satirical piece mimicking academic legal writing's tendency toward overwrought footnotes and belabored arguments, highlighting verbosity's entrenchment in scholarly discourse.

Contemporary Examples

In digital communication, social media platforms often exemplify verbosity through lengthy threads laden with redundant repetitions and excessive emojis, which can dilute the core message and overwhelm readers. A study analyzing Twitter-based emoji usage found that redundant emojis account for 33.7% of annotated emoji-text pairs, serving to emphasize but frequently resulting in cluttered, less effective expression. Similarly, corporate emails frequently include bloated disclaimers, particularly under regulations like the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), where lengthy notices repeat legal boilerplate to cover data privacy, liability, and confidentiality, sometimes spanning several paragraphs and obscuring the email's primary intent. For instance, standard GDPR-compliant disclaimers often reiterate user rights and company obligations in exhaustive detail, contributing to reader fatigue in professional correspondence. In media contexts, political discourse has featured notable instances of verbosity during the , such as U.S. filibusters designed to prolong debate and delay legislation. Senator ' 2010 filibuster against extending Bush-era tax cuts lasted over eight hours, consisting of a continuous critiquing corporate influence and , which, while influential, exemplified extended rhetorical repetition to hold the floor. Likewise, Senator Chris Murphy's 2016 filibuster on endured nearly 15 hours, relying on prolonged narration of statistics and personal stories to pressure action, highlighting how such tactics amplify verbosity for strategic delay. Contemporary AI tools like have also drawn criticism for generating verbose outputs, often producing lengthy, repetitive explanations that exceed user needs; a scoping review of applications notes its tendency toward "verbose responses or overuse of certain phrases," which can hinder efficiency in tasks like summarization or coding. A Queen's University study further quantified this, finding AI coding assistants generate responses twice as verbose as human-written answers, potentially reducing developer productivity. Academically, a 2006 Princeton University study demonstrated how unnecessary verbosity undermines perceived intelligence, showing that texts employing long words without need were rated as less intelligent by readers compared to simpler equivalents. Critiques of TED Talks similarly point to verbosity in their format, where speakers often employ elaborate, drawn-out phrasing and clichés to fill the 18-minute slot, leading to accusations of pretentious filler that prioritizes style over substance.

Psychological and Social Aspects

Causes and Motivations

Verbosity often arises from underlying psychological factors, such as insecurity, which can manifest as over-explanation in communication to preempt misunderstanding or . This serves as a defense mechanism, particularly in individuals with a history of trauma or emotional , where excessive elaboration helps to diffuse perceived threats or self-soothe amid anxiety. For instance, those affected may provide unnecessary details to ensure they are believed or to avoid conflict, stemming from a of dismissal rooted in past experiences. In , verbosity is frequently observed as a detail-oriented trait among individuals on the autism spectrum. People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may engage in excessive talking, particularly on topics of personal interest, delivering overly detailed or prolonged narratives without gauging listener engagement. This tendency reflects a cognitive preference for precision and exhaustive information sharing, rather than intentional excess, and can complicate social interactions. Motivations for verbosity include a desire to sound authoritative or intelligent, where individuals use elaborate to impress others or demonstrate , often compensating for underlying insecurity. Additionally, it can stem from discomfort with , prompting speakers to fill pauses with words to avoid awkwardness, even if it overwhelms listeners. Research links verbosity to anxiety, particularly in therapeutic settings, where excessive narration may indicate heightened stress affecting verbal clarity. Patient and therapist anxiety can lead to disrupted , reducing communication intelligibility and hindering session effectiveness. In , for example, verbosity acts as a coping strategy for nervousness, resulting in erratic or prolonged talking during interactions. has been identified as an effective intervention for addressing such patterns tied to anxiety.

Cultural and Social Variations

Cultural norms significantly influence perceptions and practices of verbosity in communication. In high-context cultures like , indirectness is prioritized to maintain social harmony and avoid confrontation, often leading to —using additional words or phrases to imply meaning rather than stating it directly—which can result in more verbose exchanges than in low-context cultures such as the , where explicit and concise verbal expression is valued for clarity and efficiency. This distinction, originally conceptualized by , highlights how contextual cues in high-context settings reduce the need for brevity but increase reliance on layered language. In contrast, French communication embodies a tolerance for elaborate styles through the cultural value of esprit—a form of witty, intellectually agile that encourages rhetorical flourish and extended as markers of and . This approach, rooted in historical salon traditions and philosophical , views verbosity not as excess but as a vehicle for nuanced expression, differing from Anglo-American preferences for succinctness. Social influences further shape verbosity across groups. Gender stereotypes in many societies, including Western and Asian contexts, depict women as more talkative or verbose, potentially stemming from expectations of relational speech; however, meta-analyses of speech studies reveal no consistent gender-based differences in overall word count or verbosity, attributing perceived variations to situational and cultural factors rather than inherent traits. In professional domains like , particularly in common-law systems influenced by British traditions, verbosity is socially reinforced through detailed, precautionary language to mitigate risks and establish , though modern reforms advocate for to enhance accessibility. Global perspectives on verbosity often intersect with postcolonial dynamics, as seen in , a hybrid variety that incorporates elaborate, formal constructions from British colonial influences alongside indigenous emphatic structures like reduplication (e.g., "small small things") and polite elaborations (e.g., "kindly do the needful"), resulting in critiques of wordiness as a marker of cultural adaptation and resistance. This stylistic hybridity reflects broader non-Western literary traditions where extended narration serves to convey multifaceted social realities, distinct from minimalist Western .

Strategies for Reduction

Style Guides and Principles

One of the foundational principles in style guides advocating against verbosity is articulated in William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White's , first published in 1918 and revised in 1959, which states: "Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts." This rule emphasizes eliminating to ensure every element contributes to the message, without sacrificing necessary detail for clarity. In his 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell outlined six rules to combat slovenly prose, including "Never use a long word where a short one will do," "If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out," and "Never use the passive where you can use the active," directly targeting verbose habits like unnecessary complexity and passive constructions that obscure meaning. These guidelines promote precision and simplicity to restore language's effectiveness, arguing that verbosity often stems from vague thinking. Ernest Hemingway exemplified brevity through his "iceberg theory," described in his 1932 book Death in the Afternoon as omitting details known to the writer, allowing readers to sense deeper implications from what remains unsaid, thereby achieving emotional depth with minimal words. This approach underscores that true economy in language enhances impact rather than diminishing it. Modern legislative efforts build on these ideas, as seen in the U.S. Plain Writing Act of 2010, which mandates federal agencies to use clear, concise language in public documents to improve and comprehension, prohibiting and complex structures where simpler alternatives suffice; the Act remains in effect, with agencies required to submit annual compliance reports as of 2025. Internationally, similar initiatives include 's Accessibility Standards standard (CAN-ASC-3.1:2025), which promotes clear communication for , and ongoing efforts in to enhance in government documents. Philosophically, Aristotle's Rhetoric (Book III) advocates a "mean" in style—balancing clarity with avoidance of excess or deficiency—stating that good prose must be clear using ordinary words, neither prolix nor curt, to ensure intelligibility without poetic elaboration or undue brevity that confuses. In journalism ethics, codes like the Society of Professional Journalists' emphasize accountability through clarity, requiring journalists to "clarify and explain" coverage and minimize harm by avoiding obfuscating verbosity that could mislead audiences.

Practical Editing Techniques

Practical editing techniques provide actionable steps to identify and remove unnecessary words, enhancing clarity and impact in writing or speech. One effective method is the read-aloud test, where the editor vocalizes the text to assess natural flow and detect awkward phrasing or that disrupts rhythm. This technique reveals sentences that feel labored, allowing for immediate trimming to improve conciseness. Common techniques include eliminating unnecessary adverbs, which often weaken without adding value. For instance, replacing "very unique" with "unique" removes intensification that is redundant, as "unique" inherently means one of a kind. Similarly, substituting multi-word phrases with single equivalents streamlines sentences; "due to the fact that" can be changed to "because," reducing length while preserving meaning. Another approach is converting passive constructions to , which typically shortens sentences and increases directness—for example, changing "The report was written by the team" to "The team wrote the report." Tools aid in systematic reduction of verbosity. Word count audits involve tracking initial and revised lengths to quantify cuts, using software like online counters to monitor progress during edits. , in its premium version, flags redundancies such as repeated ideas or filler words, suggesting concise alternatives to streamline text. A step-by-step revision often begins with a verbose first draft, followed by targeted trimming in subsequent passes to reduce length by 20-30% without losing essential content. Start by reading the draft aloud to flag convoluted sections, then eliminate redundancies and adverbs in a second pass. For example, an initial sentence like "The reason why the project was delayed is due to the fact that there were unexpected complications that arose suddenly" (18 words) can be revised to "Unexpected complications delayed the project" (4 words), cutting over 75% while retaining clarity. In the final pass, perform a audit and check to ensure the text flows efficiently. This iterative method, drawing briefly on principles like Orwell's emphasis on precise , yields tighter, more engaging writing.

References

  1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/verbosity
  2. https://www.thoughtco.com/verbosity-composition-and-communication-1692590
  3. https://www.etymonline.com/word/verbosity
  4. https://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/rhetoric.3.iii.html
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  21. https://www.etymonline.com/word/logorrhea
  22. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prolix
  23. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grandiloquence
  24. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/logorrhea
  25. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garrulous
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  27. https://careerauthors.com/hemingway-on-his-iceberg-theory-of-writing/
  28. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pleonasm
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  36. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/filibuster-explained
  37. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20672974
  38. https://www.saskoer.ca/rcm200/chapter/chapter-34-speech-structure/
  39. https://www.thoughtco.com/verbal-hedge-communication-1692585
  40. https://www.fastcompany.com/91306499/leaders-stop-talking-so-much-heres-why-its-hurting-your-team
  41. https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/38590/chapter/334645335
  42. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/politics-and-poetics-of-ciceros-brutus/ciceros-attici/0459459DF30EB20CD52B035FF84DF64C
  43. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED114889.pdf
  44. https://www.academia.edu/5662205/Doublets_and_Triplets_in_English_Legal_Language
  45. https://www.courant.com/1994/08/23/legalistic-verbosity-vs-small-old-words/
  46. https://presidentialhistory.com/2011/08/hardings-pompous-phrases.html
  47. http://www.presidentialrhetoric.com/presidents/harding.html
  48. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42945633
  49. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34962/34962-h/34962-h.htm
  50. https://lawhaha.com/publications/the-worlds-greatest-law-review-article/
  51. https://aclanthology.org/W17-5216.pdf
  52. https://exclaimer.com/email-signature-handbook/top-5-gdpr-email-disclaimer-examples/
  53. https://www.npr.org/2019/12/18/788896525/the-speech-how-sanders-2010-filibuster-elevated-his-progressive-profile
  54. https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/16/politics/filibusters-congress-chris-murphy
  55. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266734522300024X
  56. https://leaddev.com/ai/ai-coding-assistants-are-twice-as-verbose-as-stack-overflow
  57. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acp.1178
  58. https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a18091/why-ted-talks-are-bad/
  59. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/invisible-bruises/202310/tend-to-overexplain-this-may-be-why
  60. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4847740/
  61. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-to-do-life/201808/verbosity
  62. https://www.verywellhealth.com/excessive-talking-5224128
  63. https://www.unitedlanguagegroup.com/learn/communicating-high-context-vs-low-context-cultures
  64. https://www.countrynavigator.com/blog/what-are-the-differences-between-high-context-and-low-context-cultures
  65. https://www.worldbusinessculture.com/country-profiles/france/business-communication-styles/
  66. https://web.stanford.edu/~eckert/PDF/JamesDrakich.pdf
  67. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/resources/tyl/professional-development/the-move-toward-using-plain-legal-language/
  68. https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~jason2/papers/ienglish.htm
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