Meaning & use

polysyllabic

adjective·Advanced

Consisting of more than one syllable, especially describing long or complex words.

See it in a sentence

The professor's lectures were full of polysyllabic jargon that confused new students.

Children's books tend to avoid polysyllabic words in favor of simple, short ones.

A note on using this word

Polysyllabic technically just means more than one syllable, but is often used to imply a word is unnecessarily long or complicated.

Words with a similar meaning

This term is best learned through its definition and examples.

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

monosyllabic

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