sesquipedalian.

Using unusually long words or enjoying their use.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• sesquipedalian prose
• a sesquipedalian term

On the page

The sesquipedalian prose made a simple request sound like a legal dispute.

She replaced one sesquipedalian term without flattening the precision of the argument.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Comparative more sesquipedalian; superlative most sesquipedalian where gradation is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.