sesquipedalian
/ˌsɛs.kwɪ.pɪˈdeɪ.lɪ.ən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.22 in modern English
26
Scrabble Score
14
Letters
6
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
Pertaining to or given to the use of overly long words.
noun
A long word.
Example Sentences
- "The most common use of "antidisestablishmentarianism" is as an example of a sesquipedalian word."
- "He would use the simplest, plainest language, he said to himself over and over again; but it is not always easy to use simple, plain language,—by no means so easy as to mount on stilts, and to march along with sesquipedalian words, with pathos, spasms, and notes of interjection."
- "Happy word hunting! You might bag a sesquipedalian trophy! (Look it up in the dictionary)."
- "Our dinner guest was so sesquipedalian that no one could understand what he said."
- "[I]ts main character, Henry (Mr. [Ewan] McGregor), is a successful, intellectual dramatist who seems quite capable of churning out fizzy, challenging works about brilliant but ambivalent revolutionaries, philosophers, etc. […] But this cleverer-than-thou creature gets his comeuppance in "The Real Thing," showing that a very human heart – just like those possessed by the less sesquipedalian – beats beneath his fancy words."
- "“The fine old fellow,” as a Northern contemporary of ours patronizingly calls him, certainly rolled out his sesquipedalians with a majesty previously unknown, and gave a fine organ-like swell to his full-blow periods;"
Etymology
From sesquipedal + -ian (adjective- and noun-forming suffix), root from Latin sēsquipedālis (literally “a foot and a half long”), from Latin sēsqui (“one and a half times”) + Latin pedālis (“measuring a foot, foot (relational)”) (an adjective from pēs (“foot”)).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *ped-, sēsquipedālis, sēsqui, pedālis
- Suffix: sesquipedal