Sesquipedalian
adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A long word.
"“The fine old fellow,” as a Northern contemporary of ours patronizingly calls him, certainly rolled out his sesquipedalians with a majesty previously unknown, and gave a fine organ-like swell to his full-blow periods;"
- 2 a very long word (a foot and a half long) wordnet
- 3 A person who uses long words.
"Word-watchers, verbivores, and sesquipedalians love a challenge."
- 1 Long; polysyllabic.
"The most common use of "antidisestablishmentarianism" is as an example of a sesquipedalian word."
- 2 Pertaining to or given to the use of overly long words.
"Our dinner guest was so sesquipedalian that no one could understand what he said."
- 1 (of words) long and ponderous; having many syllables wordnet
- 2 given to the overuse of long words wordnet
Example
More examples"The word 'sesquipedalian' is an example of the very thing it means."
Etymology
From sesquipedal + -ian (adjective- and noun-forming suffix), root from Latin sēsquipedālis (literally “a foot and a half long”), from Latin sēsqui (“one and a half times”) + Latin pedālis (“measuring a foot, foot (relational)”) (an adjective from pēs (“foot”)).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.