Word of the Day: Sesquipedalian

April is national English month. Today's word is: Sesquipedalian. Sesquipedalian is pronounced as sess-kwip-pay-day-lee-ann. Sesquipedalian is a formal adjective derived from the Latin language. Often referred to as a polysyllabic, sesquipedalian basically means "loving of long words" or "loving of overusing long words." This can also be referred to as the love of using long syllables too. 

According the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word was first used in 1656 by English literary theorists and critics when describing the overuse of using long words. 

A sesquipedalist is a noun. This term is simply the person who uses sesquipedalian. A sesquipedalist is a person who loves to use long words or loves to overuse long words. 

Additionally sesquipedality is a noun which represents the quality of being sesquipedal or the quality of being sesquipedalian

Sentence example: "My best friend uses sesquipedalian quite often, so I always make it a priority to use big words when we communicate." 

Synonyms: Euphuistic, Lengthy, Long, Pleonastic, Polysyllabic, Polysyllable, Pretentious, Sententious

Antonyms: Brachysyllabic, Monosyllabic, Short, Unpretentious

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