Meaning & use

verbiage

noun·Advanced

Last updated

Speech or writing that uses far more words than necessary, often making the meaning harder to follow.

See it in a sentence

The contract was full of legal verbiage that took a lawyer to untangle.

She cut the verbiage from her report until only the key findings remained.

A note on using this word

Verbiage almost always carries a negative sense, pointing at excess words rather than at clear, useful ones.

Words with a similar meaning

wordinesspadding

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

Words with an opposite meaning

brevityconciseness

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “verbiage”, then compare your use with the examples above.

Your draft stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.