sesquipedalian

Définition, traduction, prononciation, anagramme et synonyme sur le dictionnaire libre Wiktionnaire.

Anglais[modifier le wikicode]

Étymologie[modifier le wikicode]

Du latin sesquipedalis (« long d’un pied et demi »), dérivé de sesqui et de pedis, forme de pes (« pied »). Cognat avec le français sesquipédal.

Nom commun [modifier le wikicode]

Singulier Pluriel
sesquipedalian
\ˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪən\
sesquipedalians
\ˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪənz\

sesquipedalian \ˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪən\

  1. Un long mot, qui a beaucoup de syllabes.
    • “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; — (On the Art of Rising in Prose The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, part 2, v. 29, Henry Colburn and Co., page 162, 1830)
    • Fleet-streetese, the so-called English written to sell by the Fleet-streeter (q.v.), or baser sort of journalist: a mixture of sesquipedalians and slang, of phrases worn threadbare and phrases sprung from the kennel; — (John S. Farmer, William Ernest Henley, A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English: Abridged from the Seven-volume Work, Entitled "Slang and Its Analogues", Taylor & Francis, page 164, 1927)
    • ‘Sometimes we converse in ballad-rhymes, sometimes in Johnsonian sesquipedalians; at tea we condescend to riddles and charades.’ — (Hannah More, Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, page 220, 1952)
  2. Personne qui utilise de longs mots.
    • Don’t be a sesquipedalian! / Yes, you guessed right. A sesquipedalian is a person who enjoys long words. — (Jonathan Herring, How to Argue: Powerfully, Persuasively, Positively, FT Press, chapitre 8, page ?, 2012)

Apparentés étymologiques[modifier le wikicode]

Dérivés[modifier le wikicode]

Adjectif [modifier le wikicode]

Nature Forme
Positif sesquipedalian
Comparatif more sesquipedalian
Superlatif most sesquipedalian

sesquipedalian \ˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪən\

  1. Long, polysyllabique (en parlant d’un mot).
    • More people know the sesquipedalian word "antidisestablishmentarianism" than know what it means.
  2. Relatif au fait d’utiliser de trop longs mots.
    • Our dinner guest was so sesquipedalian that no one could understand what he said.

Prononciation[modifier le wikicode]


Références[modifier le wikicode]