verbiage

[ vur-bee-ij ]

/ ˈvɜr bi ɪdʒ /

overabundance or superfluity of words, as in writing or speech; wordiness; verbosity.

manner or style of expressing something in words; wording: a manual of official verbiage.

Origin of verbiage

1715–25; < French, equivalent to Middle French verbi(er) to gabble + -age -age

Political correctness was not part of her vocabulary, but anti-Semitic verbiage was.

Understanding Diana Vreeland, ‘Empress of Fashion’ |Robin Givhan |November 28, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
But the flood of Joan Rivers-style verbiage about her day-to-day wardrobe has overwhelmed those nuanced conversations.

First Lady Fashion Fatigue |Robin Givhan |November 5, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
Occasionally, a memorable phrase floats up from the rivers of verbiage.

State of the Union Sand Traps |Howard Kurtz |January 24, 2011 |DAILY BEAST
And compared with his recent speeches, it wasn't entirely a humdinger of verbiage.

A Fair and Balanced Address |Tunku Varadarajan |August 31, 2010 |DAILY BEAST

If Congress were paid by the word or the page, this verbiage might be understandable.

The Ugly Truth About Financial-Regulatory Reform |Harvey Pitt |July 14, 2010 |DAILY BEAST
All this verbiage only meant that one side wished to remove Ledru-Rollin from power, and the other to keep him there.

The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville |Alexis De Tocqueville
Let us try to extricate, if we can, his argument from this heap of verbiage.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 70, No. 434, December, 1851 |Various
A thought, a distinction is the rock on which all this brittle cargo of verbiage splits at once.

Table-Talk |William Hazlitt
The doctrine of implied powers is expounded with all of his peculiar force and clearness, but with some overabundance of verbiage.

The Life of John Marshall (Volume 2 of 4) |Albert J. Beveridge
As it turns out, you've come down to us as the Age of Verbiage.

You Don't Make Wine Like the Greeks Did |David E. Fisher

verbiage

/ (ˈvɜːbɪɪdʒ) /

the excessive and often meaningless use of words; verbosity

rare diction; wording

C18: from French, from Old French verbier to chatter, from verbe word, from Latin verbum