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sententious

sen·ten·tious/sɛnˈtɛn.ʃəs/adjective

sententious is spelled S-E-N-T-E-N-T-I-O-U-S: 11 letters and 3 syllables (sen·ten·tious). It appears about once in every 32 million words in written English, the 171,907th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, sententious means “Using as few words as possible; pithy and concise” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in sententious?

Letters11: S-E-N-T-E-N-T-I-O-U-S
Syllables3: sen·ten·tious
In writingabout once in every 32 million words; the 171,907th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is sententious?

Sententious appears about once in every 32 million words in written English, the 171,907th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce sententious?

  • US /sɛnˈtɛn.ʃəs/

Sententious has 3 syllables, split sen·ten·tious in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sententious.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with sententious?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sententious from its last stressed vowel (/ɛnʃəs/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of sententious

  • more sententious comparative
  • most sententious superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does sententious mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Using as few words as possible; pithy and concise.

  2. 2

    Tending to the frequent use aphorisms or maxims; especially, in a manner that is affected, trite or self-righteous.

    His sententious remarks quickly bored the audience.

  3. 3

    obsoleteFull of meaning.

  4. 4

    obsoleteRelating to a sentence; sentential.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Sententious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchconcis, laconique, succint (using as few words as possible), sentencieux, pédant, pontifiant (tending to use aphorisms or maxims)
Spanishconciso, lacónico, sucinto (using as few words as possible), sentencioso (tending to use aphorisms or maxims)
Germangeschwollen (tending to use aphorisms or maxims)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does sententious come from?

From Latin sententiōsus, from sententia (“opinion, purpose”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after sententious