sesquipedalian

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 26, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>sesquipedalian</strong> &#149; \sess-kwuh-puh-DAIL-yun\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><strong>1 :</strong> having many syllables <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/long">long</a> </p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> using long words</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>Jacob's editor advised him to pare away the <em>sesquipedalian</em> prose he favored and opt for simpler language that would reach more readers.</p> <p>"For generations, college-bound kids have memorized <em>sesquipedalian</em> word lists and spent hours or days, if not months, mastering the theory of guessing among other test-taking tricks and gimmicks to propel them to a high score on the pivotal SAT exam." — <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/usa/san-francisco-chronicle/20160215/281500750306622">Jill Tucker, <em>The San Francisco Chronicle</em>, 15 Feb. 2016</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>Horace, the ancient Roman poet known for his satire, was merely being gently ironic when he cautioned young poets against using <em>sesquipedalia verba</em>—"words a foot and a half long"—in his book <em>Ars poetica</em>, a collection of maxims about writing. But in the 17th century, English literary critics decided the word <em>sesquipedalian</em> could be very useful for lambasting writers using unnecessarily long words. Robert Southey used it to make two jibes at once when he wrote "the verses of [16th-century English poet] Stephen Hawes are as full of barbarous sesquipedalian Latinisms, as the prose of [the 18th-century periodical] the <em>Rambler</em>." The Latin prefix <em>sesqui-</em> is used in modern English to mean "one and a half times," as in <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sesquicentennial">sesquicentennial</a></em> (a 1