The Most Fantastic Word in the English Language
Word of the Day for Friday January 13, 2006
sesquipedalian \ses-kwuh-puh-DAYL-yuhn\, adjective:
1. Given to or characterized by the use of long words.
2. Long and ponderous; having many syllables.
noun:
A long word.
As a sesquipedalian stylist, he can throw a word like
'eponymous" into a sentence without missing a beat.
--Campbell, Patty, "The sand in the oyster," [1]The Horn
Book Magazine, May 15, 1996
Plus he has a weakness for what we can mischievously call
sesquipedalian excess: Look out for such terms as
"epiphenomenal," "diegetic" and "proprioceptive."
--Jabari Asim, "Reel Pioneer," [2]Washington Post, November
19, 2000
They walk and speak with disdain for common folk, and never
miss a chance to belittle the crowd in sesquipedalian
put-downs or to declare that their raucous and uncouth
behavior calls for nothing less than a letter to the Times,
to inform proper Englishmen of the deplorable state of
manners in the Colonies.
--William C. Martin, "Friday Night in the Coliseum," [3]The
Atlantic, March 1972
. . . her eccentric family's addiction to sesquipedalians
(that big word for "big words"), and her furtive passion
for flossy mail-order-catalog prose.
--David Browne, "Books/The Week," [4]Entertainment Weekly,
October 23, 1998
_________________________________________________________
Sesquipedalian comes from Latin sesquipedalis, "a foot and a
half long, hence inordinately long," from sesqui, "one half
more, half as much again" + pes, ped-, "a foot."
sesquipedalian \ses-kwuh-puh-DAYL-yuhn\, adjective:
1. Given to or characterized by the use of long words.
2. Long and ponderous; having many syllables.
noun:
A long word.
As a sesquipedalian stylist, he can throw a word like
'eponymous" into a sentence without missing a beat.
--Campbell, Patty, "The sand in the oyster," [1]The Horn
Book Magazine, May 15, 1996
Plus he has a weakness for what we can mischievously call
sesquipedalian excess: Look out for such terms as
"epiphenomenal," "diegetic" and "proprioceptive."
--Jabari Asim, "Reel Pioneer," [2]Washington Post, November
19, 2000
They walk and speak with disdain for common folk, and never
miss a chance to belittle the crowd in sesquipedalian
put-downs or to declare that their raucous and uncouth
behavior calls for nothing less than a letter to the Times,
to inform proper Englishmen of the deplorable state of
manners in the Colonies.
--William C. Martin, "Friday Night in the Coliseum," [3]The
Atlantic, March 1972
. . . her eccentric family's addiction to sesquipedalians
(that big word for "big words"), and her furtive passion
for flossy mail-order-catalog prose.
--David Browne, "Books/The Week," [4]Entertainment Weekly,
October 23, 1998
_________________________________________________________
Sesquipedalian comes from Latin sesquipedalis, "a foot and a
half long, hence inordinately long," from sesqui, "one half
more, half as much again" + pes, ped-, "a foot."