as in rambling
using or containing more words than necessary to express an idea
a person known for habitually transforming brief anecdotes into prolix sagas that exhaust their listeners
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Recent Examples of prolix
Words, including those of artists themselves—as prolix in their way as critics, curators, and historians—can serve vision but can also deflect from it.
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Barry Schwabsky, ARTnews.com, 3 Sep. 2019
In 1949, a young American artist named Ray Johnson left Black Mountain College near Asheville, N.C., moved to New York City and began to explore his prolix talents, both visual and verbal.
—Roberta Smith, New York Times, 30 May 2024
The album is a concise, 10-song set, a deliberate contrast to prolix streaming-era albums like the ones released lately by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.
—Jon Pareles, New York Times, 17 May 2024
A certain type of actor thrives in these prolix circumstances.
—Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2021
His answer is this book: a laudably sincere, exasperatingly prolix and occasionally affecting rumination on the state of Egypt—its society, culture, history and politics—pegged to the maddening bureaucracy of the archive.
—Kapil Komireddi, WSJ, 12 Mar. 2023
Most books and essays published these days are too long: gummed up with adjectives and pointless asides, laden with prolix displays of expertise.
—Barton Swaim, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2022
There’s a hypnotic quality to this freewheeling central section, a sustained charge that falters in some of the more prolix passages around it.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Sep. 2022
Ames’s ruminations on the soul are prolix, philosophical, and profoundly sad.
—Hermione Lee, The New York Review of Books, 22 Oct. 2020
Barry Schwabsky, ARTnews.com, 3 Sep. 2019
In 1949, a young American artist named Ray Johnson left Black Mountain College near Asheville, N.C., moved to New York City and began to explore his prolix talents, both visual and verbal.
—Roberta Smith, New York Times, 30 May 2024
The album is a concise, 10-song set, a deliberate contrast to prolix streaming-era albums like the ones released lately by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.
—Jon Pareles, New York Times, 17 May 2024
A certain type of actor thrives in these prolix circumstances.
—Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2021
His answer is this book: a laudably sincere, exasperatingly prolix and occasionally affecting rumination on the state of Egypt—its society, culture, history and politics—pegged to the maddening bureaucracy of the archive.
—Kapil Komireddi, WSJ, 12 Mar. 2023
Most books and essays published these days are too long: gummed up with adjectives and pointless asides, laden with prolix displays of expertise.
—Barton Swaim, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2022
There’s a hypnotic quality to this freewheeling central section, a sustained charge that falters in some of the more prolix passages around it.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Sep. 2022
Ames’s ruminations on the soul are prolix, philosophical, and profoundly sad.
—Hermione Lee, The New York Review of Books, 22 Oct. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prolix
Adjective
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There is more than 178 feet of beach and ocean frontage, which can be accessed via a rambling wooden staircase.Emma Reynolds, Robb Report, 5 Nov. 2024
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Some, of course, will find this style of writing off-putting and too rambling or the prose verging on purple, the narrative perhaps not story-driven enough.Erik Kain, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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The unassuming O’Connell even mustered up some swagger and was much more talkative with teammates on the practice field.Vic Tafur, The Athletic, 20 Aug. 2024
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Those born under the Gemini zodiac sign are said to be talkative, outgoing and adaptable.Olivia Munson, USA TODAY, 18 June 2024
Adjective
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The lawmaker said that the usable speech only came after four or five prompts that generated unusable material, either too verbose or oddly phrased, an illustration of how important the input into the AI is to the result.Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Jan. 2023
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The verbose coach was at somewhat of a loss for words, opting to forgo opening remarks in his postgame press conference and instead diving right into questions.Tom Green | tgreen@al.com, al, 18 Jan. 2023
Adjective
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Using the Concise function on highlighted text to boil it down strips out too much personality, while the Friendly function gets too wordy and often misses the sentence's or paragraph's original point.PCMAG, PCMAG, 7 Nov. 2024
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This is a talky chamber piece of philosophical face-offs, debate duels and wordy warfare, though the outcomes remain just as harrowing.Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 7 Nov. 2024
Articles Related to prolix
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Cite this Entry
“Prolix.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prolix. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.
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