What's the difference between prolix and wordy?

Prolix


Definition:

  • (a.) Extending to a great length; unnecessarily long; minute in narration or argument; excessively particular in detail; -- rarely used except with reference to discourse written or spoken; as, a prolix oration; a prolix poem; a prolix sermon.
  • (a.) Indulging in protracted discourse; tedious; wearisome; -- applied to a speaker or writer.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But those who have not lost the power to examine themselves will probably find something basically true in the prolix, shapeless study of a futile frustrated wretch, even if they do not get as far as extending much sympathy to him.
  • (2) Even as they're running way past the climax of the sketch, they're mocking their own prolixity.
  • (3) Even more than most legislation it was prolix and repetitive, but its bold intention stood out: “to give ... the right to buy their homes ... to tenants of local authorities”.
  • (4) It has led some commentators to suggest that in this instance he overstretched himself, that he became prolix or, more charitably, that Beware of Pity is actually two novellas of unequal length stitched together.
  • (5) The plague agent is adapted to the existence on the territory occupied by aggregations of females that manifests itself in the delay of the beginning and prolixity of block-formation periods in fleas.
  • (6) The interpretation of the words in the detailed and prolix terminology by Andry conveys some of the essential contents of modern orthopaedics, but completely ignores another branch of orthopaedics in adults, particularly its most important source, namely, traumatology of the locomotor organs.
  • (7) A narrator devoted to the prolix, the comprehensive.
  • (8) The scientists were unaware of my letter to Congress because they did not have the good sense or courtesy to contact me - or even to contact the vast majority of the scientists whose conclusions I had cited - before circulating to friendly news media their prolix, turgid, repetitive, erroneous and inadequate response to my testimony."
  • (9) Moreover, the current profusion of plausible theories is unmanageably prolix; it is true, however, that theory must account for the complexity of constant shifts of developmental levels in terms of currently used adaptive devices.
  • (10) Although its prolixity has caused comment, the name “Justice for men and boys (and the women who love them)”, acronym J4MB, does not begin to capture the surging passions due to add colour to the three campaigns planned by Mr Buchanan.

Wordy


Definition:

  • (superl.) Of or pertaining to words; consisting of words; verbal; as, a wordy war.
  • (superl.) Using many words; verbose; as, a wordy speaker.
  • (superl.) Containing many words; full of words.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The spouse's communication shows a continuous reciprocal attempt not to define their own relation, by the use of a wide wordiness, that includes different subjects and meanings in a confusive and spiral-shaped sequence.
  • (2) Although he initially found Thomas's wordiness difficult to convey, he was won over by Under Milk Wood 's "craziness".
  • (3) In years to come, the currently wordy declaration could prove to be a point of change.
  • (4) That was Philip Drew, the deputy head, whose stern, wordy, slightly sarcastic admonishments of pupils conformed to traditional stereotypes of how heads behave.
  • (5) The donation, accredited to 28-year-old Evgeny, went to American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour's rather wordy cause, the Council of Fashion Designers of America Vogue Fashion Fund.
  • (6) So the "zero draft", as it's named, is a very long, wordy, worthy document.
  • (7) The student style – bouncy energy, fast pace, very wordy – could be dialled down.
  • (8) I don't like 'clever' comedy, it's always far too wordy.
  • (9) But being a wordy sort of person and also much given to fruitless rumination, I would have been more likely to spend 20 minutes and several paras (yes: even in a txt msg) trying to convey perfectly my empathetic rage at her thwarted desire and suggest half-a-dozen doomed compromises ("Perhaps if you left after the first course your great aunt wouldn't be too hurt?").
  • (10) He followed it with Hunky Dory (1972), a mix of wordy, elaborate songwriting ( The Bewlay Brothers or Quicksand ), crunchy rockers ( Queen Bitch ) and infectious pop songs ( Kooks ).
  • (11) Ask me what the greatest influence on the modern English-language novel is, and I won't mention Ulysses (a wordy, self-referential cul-de-sac) and I won't mention Lady Chatterley (honest but snobbish), I will say one word: screen.
  • (12) It was too long, too wordy, too complex for most of them – and getting to the end of it so that they were sufficiently prepared to be able to answer questions on it in an examination context was a slog for them and for me.
  • (13) Instead, the document is dominated by wordy phrases about the necessity of attaining social and economic development in those countries.
  • (14) There is a theory that domestic violence occurs when men run out of words and we could be dealing with a related strain – the dull-minded bloke, imagining himself a romantic but getting all tired at the thought of wordy passion, flexing his fingers instead.
  • (15) The question being asked is wordy and vague, its legal consequence unclear, and its primary context seems parochial.