logorrhea

Definition

Excessive talkativeness.

Etymology

From logo- (prefix meaning ‘word; speech’) + -rrhea (suffix meaning ‘flowing’), probably modelled after verbal diarrhea. logo- is derived from Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos, “word; speech; utterance”) (from λέγω (légō, “to say, speak; to arrange; to gather”), from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect, gather”)), while -rrhea is from ῥοία (rhoía, “a flow, flux”) (from ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow”), from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow”)).

Example Sentences

• "These "Symbolists" are characterised by unbounded vanity and self-sufficiency; they are highly emotional; their thinking is hazy and disconnected. They suffer from "Logorrhea" or "sickly talkativeness," and are unable to perform any work which requires concentration and persistency."
• "[Jacques] Rivette, bluntly, suffers from a good case of logorrhea. Even if he had none of these rationales, he would still make long films. In interviews he speaks in endless, ebullient sentences that surround their subjects like spider's webs and sometimes suffocate them."
• "The baritone is angry, but still controlled: he does not indulge in compulsive over-rapid spurts of logorrhoeas but keeps to a 'chopped, short, hard, very pointed' staccato-like delivery, excited, but well articulated through interruptions of differing lengths."