verbiage
/vɛʁ.bjaʒ/masculine
verbiage is the French translation for the English phrase 'verbiage'.
The term refers to an overabundance of words.
Meaning: overabundance of words (noun)
How do you pronounce it?
The pronunciation of verbiage is /vɛʁ.bjaʒ/. It consists of 2 syllables.
Did you know?
- While 'verbiage' in English usually describes a negative excess of words, the French word verbiage can specifically refer to the empty talk of a politician or a bureaucrat used to avoid giving a direct answer.
- Unlike in English, where 'verbiage' is sometimes mistakenly used to mean 'the wording of a document', using verbiage in French to mean 'the text' is always incorrect and implies the text is wasteful.
- If you use the term in a formal French literary critique, it carries a much heavier weight of 'nonsense' than the English 'wordiness' does.
Examples in context
- Le discours du politicien était rempli de verbiage inutile.The politician's speech was filled with unnecessary verbiage.
- Arrête de faire du blabla et explique-moi clairement ton point de vue.Stop all the verbiage and explain your point of view clearly.
- Ne m'ennuie pas avec ton bavardage, dis-moi simplement ce que tu penses.Don't bore me with your chatter, just tell me what you think.
- Arrête de raconter du baratin et sois clair dans ton explication.Stop talking mumbo jumbo and be clear in your explanation.
- Ils ont épuisé l'auditoire avec leurs paroles trop abondantes.They exhausted the audience with their excessive words.
- Son discours était rempli de verbiage inutile.His speech was filled with useless verbiage.
- Je n'aime pas ce verbiage dans les rapports.I don't like this verbiage in the reports.
- Évitez tout verbiage excessif dans votre lettre.Avoid any excessive verbiage in your letter.
Example conversation
Lucas and Léa are reviewing a draft of an article.
- LucasL'article est trop long et plein de verbiage.The article is too long and full of verbiage.
- LéaTu as raison, Lucas, il faut simplifier.You're right, Lucas, we need to simplify it.
- LucasOn doit supprimer tout ce verbiage.We must remove all this verbiage.
- LéaJe vais m'en occuper tout de suite.I will take care of it right away.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “verbiage” translations and entries verbiage, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
