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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

voluble

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster

Arts, Literature, Language Courses, Education

4.31.2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2025

⏱️ 2 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 22, 2025 is:

voluble • \VAHL-yuh-bul\  • adjective

Someone may be described as voluble if they are talking a lot in a rapid, energetic way.

// Bri knew something was bothering her normally voluble friend when he was reluctant to talk about his day.

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Examples:

“The movie is built around an interview with the legendary 91-year-old actor, still vigorous and voluble, with a seize-the-day cornball glow to him. In ‘You Can Call Me Bill,’ Shatner sits under the hot lights, with the camera close to his face, talking, talking, and talking—about life, death, acting, fame, love, desolation, and trees.” — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 16 Mar. 2023

Did you know?

In a chapter titled “Conversation,” from her 1922 book Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home, Emily Post offers her trademark good advice for the loquacious among us: “There is a simple rule, by which if one is a voluble chatterer ... one can at least refrain from being a pest or a bore. And the rule is merely, to stop and think.” Voluble, as is clear in this context, describes someone or something (as in “voluble personality/prose/presence”) characterized by ready or rapid speech. Voluble traces back to the Latin verb volvere, meaning “to set in a circular course” or “to cause to roll.” Another volvere descendant, volume, can also be a help in remembering voluble’s meaning, not because someone described as voluble speaks at a loud volume, per se, but because they have volumes to say.



Transcript

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0:00.0

It's the Word of the Day podcast for May 22nd.

0:11.6

Today's word is voluble, spelled V-O-L-U-B-L-E. Voluble is an adjective.

0:18.5

Someone may be described as voluble if they are talking a lot in a rapid,

0:22.6

energetic way. Here's the word used in a sentence from variety. The movie is built around an

0:28.5

interview with the legendary 91-year-old actor, still vigorous and voluble, with a seize-the-day

0:34.9

cornball glow to him. In You Can Call Me Bill, Shatner sits under the hot lights with the camera close to his face

0:42.0

talking, talking, and talking about life, death, acting, fame, love, desolation, and trees.

0:49.5

In a chapter called Conversation from her 1922 book, Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics,

0:56.6

and at Home, Emily Post offers her trademark good advice for the loquacious among us.

1:03.3

There is a simple rule by which if one is a voluble chatterer, one can at least refrain from being

1:09.4

a pest or bore, and the rule is merely to stop and think.

1:14.6

Valuable, as is clear in this context, describes someone or something, as in Valuable Personality,

1:20.4

prose, presence, characterized by ready or rapid speech. Voluble traces back to the Latin verb Volveri, meaning to set in a circular

1:30.2

course or to cause to roll. Another Volveri descendant, the word volume, can also be a help in

1:37.2

remembering voluble's meaning, not because someone described as voluble speaks at a loud volume per se,

1:44.1

but because they have volumes to say.

1:46.6

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

1:52.3

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