long-winded
/ˈlɔŋˌwɪndəd/
"long-winded" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“long-winded” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Tediously long in speaking; consuming much time; unnecessarily verbose.
Corpus desk
Index EN-long-winded · long-winded · English
long-winded · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | long-winded |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈlɔŋˌwɪndəd/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “long-winded” in English
Rare enough to double-check
long-winded is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈlɔŋˌwɪndəd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Tediously long in speaking; consuming much time; unnecessarily verbose.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for long-winded, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Figurative, from long + winded The correct English form is long-winded, spelled L-O-N-G---W-I-N-D-E-D.
Definition
- 1Tediously long in speaking; consuming much time; unnecessarily verbose.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how long-winded appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He launched into a long-winded discussion of the relative merits of asphalt and concrete.
But which analysis is the right one? Well, as in any serious field of research, the consequences of making different assumptions about a particular phenomenon are often so complex and far-reaching that the full implications of the decision to adopt one analysis rather than another are not always immediately apparent. Thatʼs a rather long-winded way of say…
Etymology
Figurative, from long + winded
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.