The use of many words that are often more than necessary to convey meaning
Examples:
The report was filled with needless verbiage.Avoid verbiage that muddles the core message.She criticized the article's excessive verbiage.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Verbosity
/vɜːˈbəʊs/
The use of an excessive number of words
Examples:
His verbosity often overshadowed the critical points.The report suffered from excessive verbosity and lost clarity.She cut through the verbosity and delivered a concise argument.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Ways to tell them apart:
Verbiage is associated with an excess of words where fewer words would suffice, often implying redundancy.
Verbosity refers to a style of speech or writing that is excessively wordy, placing emphasis on the quantity of words used.
Remember that verbiage can sometimes relate to the manner of speech, whereas verbosity focuses on the sheer wordiness.
Think verbiAGE as an older term, somewhat more formal in tone, compared to the straightforward description in verbosity.
Verbiage may sometimes imply unnecessary or superfluous words, while verbosity more directly points to wordiness.