polysyllabic, a.
(ˌpɒlɪsɪˈlæbɪk)
[f. med.L. polysyllab-us, Gr. πολυσύλλαβ-ος (see prec.) + -ic. So F. polysyllabique (1550 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
a. Of a word: Consisting of many (i.e., usually, more than three) syllables. b. Of language, etc.: Characterized by polysyllables.
| 1782 Warton Rowley Enq. 42 He would rather have acquiesced in this laxity of the polysyllabic termination. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. II. xx. 113 In the ‘Excursion’ the number of polysyllabic..words is more than usually great. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. xii. 244 Their greatly varying dialects are polysyllabic and agglutinative. 1906 The King's English iii. (ed. 2) 171 Polysyllabic humour. |
So
polysyˈllabical a., in same senses. Hence
polysyˈllabically adv., in a polysyllabic manner, in polysyllables;
polysyˈllabicism (
-sɪz(ə)m),
nonce-wd., polysyllabic style;
polysyllabicity (
-ˈɪsɪtɪ),
nonce-wd., the condition of being polysyllabic.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., *Polysyllabical, that hath many syllables. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 7 As for Polysyllabical articulate Echo's, the strongest and best..is in the Park at Woodstock. 1868 J. H. Newman Verses Var. Occasions 25 Terms strange and solemn That figure in polysyllabical row In a treatise. |
| 1893 Star 18 May 1/6 The temptation to talk *polysyllabically to a popular audience. |
| 1807 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. V. 274 Having the *polysyllabicism without the precision of Johnson. |
| 1871 Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue §14 Inflections..are there [in Gothic] seen standing forth in all their archaic rigidity and *polysyllabicity. |