Dictionary

perissological en · ADJ

Etymology

From perissology + -ical. Compare French périssologique.

Meanings

1. (rare) Redundant or excessive in words.
   • We skated out tangents and cotangents of majestic circles, together with signs and wonders, versed, inversed, and reversed, which it would be perissological to enumerate. 1855 March, “A Trip to Lake Saltonstall”, in The Yale Literary Magazine, volume 20, page 180:
   • I am reluctantly driven to thinking, however, that, as Mr. Schutze finds it as hard to believe these currently-accepted scientific explanations of phenomena as it is to believe in the Holy Trinity, his days of mental progress must have me to an end, in which case further discussion of these subjects would be but a perissological performance which would be better avoided. 1886 February 27, W.L. Prosser, “Letter to the Editor”, in Secular Review: A Journal of Agnosticism, volume 18, page 142:
   • There is no doubt that the ordinary reader would enjoy, and he certainly would profit much by, a revival of the classic work—if only he did not fall asleep over its magniloquent but perissological otiosity. 1908, Charles Francis Horne, The Technique of the Novel, page 126:
2. Serving to reinforce a message; having strong associations.
   • Perissological resonators can reveal relationships extant in various domains like kinship, exchange, death, marriage etc. 2020, Niraj Kumar, George van Driem, Phunchok Stobdan, Himalayan Bridge, page 87:
   • But these are changes that would modify neither the sets of values expressed in a perissological way nor the non-verbal communication that takes place around the artefact in question. 2016, Pierre Lemonnier, Mundane Objects: Materiality and Non-verbal Communication, page 158:
   • There was the links of those things, their perissological qualities (Lemonnier 2012), the world of artefacts, knowledge, symbols, rules, stories and emotions in which they were immersed. 2020, Bjørnar Olsen, Mats Burström, Caitlin DeSilvey, After Discourse: Things, Affects, Ethics:

Forms

Relateds

perissology

Synonyms

wordy · verbose