Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Related Searches
on Ask.com
Synonyms
Nearby Entries
verbiage - 6 dictionary results

ver⋅bi⋅age

  [vur-bee-ij]
Use verbiage in a Sentence
–noun
1. overabundance or superfluity of words, as in writing or speech; wordiness; verbosity.
2. manner or style of expressing something in words; wording: a manual of official verbiage.
Origin:
1715–25; < F, equiv. to MF verbi(er) to gabble + -age -age
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To verbiage
ver·bi·age   (vûr'bē-ĭj, -bĭj)   
n.  
  1. An excess of words for the purpose; wordiness.
  2. The manner in which something is expressed in words: software verbiage.

[French, from Old French verbier, to chatter, from verbe, word, from Latin verbum; see verb.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Verbiage

Ver"bi*age\ (?; 48), n. [F. verbiage, from OF. verbe a word. See Verb.] The use of many words without necessity, or with little sense; a superabundance of words; verbosity; wordiness.

Verbiage may indicate observation, but not thinking. --W. Irving.

This barren verbiage current among men. --Tennyson.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : verbiage
Spanish: palabreríapalabrería,
German: das Gequassel,
Japanese: むだ口
More Translations »

verbiage

n. When the context involves a software or hardware system, this refers to documentation. This term borrows the connotations of mainstream `verbiage' to suggest that the documentation is of marginal utility and that the motives behind its production have little to do with the ostensible subject.
Jargon File 4.2.0
Cite This Source

verbiage 
1721, from Fr. verbiage "wordiness" (17c.), from M.Fr. verbier "to chatter," from O.Fr. verbe "word," from L. verbum "word" (see verb).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

verbiage
When the context involves a software or hardware system, this refers to documentation. This term borrows the connotations of mainstream "verbiage" to suggest that the documentation is of marginal utility and that the motives behind its production have little to do with the ostensible subject.
[The Jargon File]

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
Cite This Source
Search another word or see verbiage on Thesaurus | Reference