What does "verbose" mean?

Containing or using more words than necessary; long-winded, wordy.

What is a synonym for "verbose"?

Common synonyms include: all jaw, bombastic, candid, chatty, circumlocutory, circumlocutory.

Verbose

//vəˈbəʊs// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Usage: "Verbose" means using more words than necessary. Unlike "eloquent" or "articulate," it is always a criticism, verbosity is never a virtue. It applies to writing, speech, code, and error messages alike. In programming, "verbose mode" is a notable exception where the word is neutral, simply meaning the system produces detailed output.

Origin: "Verbose" comes from Latin "verbosus," from "verbum" (word), the same root that gives us "verb," "verbal," "verbatim," and "proverb." The Romans had the same complaint about wordiness: Horace wrote "brevis esse laboro" (I strive to be brief), and Cicero apologized in a letter, "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time", a sentiment later attributed to Pascal, Twain, and nearly everyone else.

Watch out: Some writers use "verbose" as if it merely means "detailed" or "thorough." It does not. Verbose specifically means excessively wordy, the extra words add nothing. A 50-page report can be concise if every page earns its place; a single paragraph can be verbose if half its words are redundant.

Definitions

Adjective

1
Containing or using more words than necessary; long-winded, wordy.
"I omit more than an Hundred Things, that would engage to perſonal Reflection; for my Soul hath no Pleaſure in ſtriving therein, as knowing the inconſiſtancy of that uncharitable virulent Temper with a Chriſtian Spirit, which I am aſſured is quite another Thing, from what is Verboſe, Abuſive[,] Cavilling, Airy, and meerly Notional; [...]"
2
Producing detailed output for diagnostic purposes.
"You should use verbose logging sparingly. Turning on verbose logging for every process would result in log files so large they would become useless."

Adjective

1
using or containing too many words wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

all jaw bombastic candid chatty circumlocutory circumlocutory

Antonyms

All antonyms

brief concise crisp laconic

Example

More examples

"Sven was so verbose that his friends resorted to calling him a chatterbox."

Etymology

From Latin verbōsus (“prolix, wordy, verbose”). Verbōsus is derived from verbum (“word”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *werh₁- (“to say, speak”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, overly, prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Equivalent to verb + -ose.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.