Loquacious

adjective

Extremely talkative or wordy; tending to talk frequently, continuously, or for long periods of time
Eager to speak and sociable, often overly so

Usage

Uh-oh…you're in it now. All you did was turn to the person next to you on the bus and politely ask them how they were - and thus began the deluge. It's been over ten minutes now, and the torrent of chatter hasn't ceased. You know now that you won't get away, that the glib yakking of your garrulous neighbor will demand your attention for the whole ride. All you can do is nod along and try to keep up; it's astounding that someone could talk so much. Finally, your stop comes up. As you leave, your erstwhile seat partner smiles brightly and waves goodbye before resuming the loquacious stream with some other hapless passenger.

That portrayal of a loquacious person might be a little harsh, but, unfortunately, it represents our feeling towards someone who just talks too darn much. Loquacious people seem to speak whenever they get the chance, and their words tend to come out in a liquid, easy stream of verbosity. Encountering such blabbermouths, you might almost think they're holding extended conversations with themselves; the words flow so smoothly and so constantly that it's tough for anyone else to get a word in edgewise. Of course, others might not want to put in their own two cents, as loquacious often indicates that a person is prone to talk past the point of politeness or about unimportant subjects. If you're trying to do something like watch a movie, read a book, or learn vocabulary from an online lexicon, the last thing you want is a loquacious person chittering in your ear about all the people he rode the bus with today.

So far we've been kind of down on loquaciousness, but sometimes a chatterbox is exactly what you need. Besides just talkativeness, loquacious frequently implies that someone likes to speak and hold conversations with other people. Such fluency can suggest that someone is confident, outgoing, and extremely friendly, eager to draw others in through the sheer indefatigability of their words. In fact, loquacious is sometimes used as an entirely positive description, indicating social articulateness, intelligence, or a welcoming disposition. Either way, though, a loquacious person will always at least give you something to listen to.

Example: Even if no one else said a word, loquacious Uncle Al could make a party seem lively all by himself.

Example: The loquacious keynote speaker bored the audience with inane, endless digressions.

Example: My sister's loquacious nature earned her a reputation as being a little annoying, but it also made her many friends.

Example: The loquacious stranger had soon captivated everyone with his stories.

Origin

Thanks to a shared Latin ancestor, the verb loqui, meaning "to talk," lots of words related to speech have loqu or loc in them. Interestingly, though, loqui derives from the Proto-Indo-European root tolk(w)-, which suspiciously resembles talk. Coincidence? Probably, according to etymologists. Anyway, from loqui would come the Latin loquax, which, meaning "prone to talk a lot," is a candidate for the modern loquacious' most direct ancestor. Another possibility is the noun loquacity, inspired by loquax and first seen in the 13^th century meaning "verbosity." Loquacious was first recorded in English in the 1660s.

Derivative Words

Loquaciously: This adverb characterizes a verb, adjective, or other adverb as related to a tendency to talk excessively.

Example: My date spent the whole night talking loquaciously about her pet parakeets.

Example: I learned that all their chittering can make parakeets seem loquaciously sociable!

Loquaciousness: This noun refers to the tendency to talk frequently and fluently. It can also imply a sense of sociability.

Example: The young boy's loquaciousness meant that he had to be shushed many times by his teacher.

Example: Loquaciousness is an ideal quality in the host of a late-night talk show.

Loquacity: Loquacity is actually much older than loquacious, and it's thought to be one of the latter's closest ancestors. Loquacity, which refers to the attribute of speaking a lot, can be used interchangeably with loquaciousness.

Example: After a while, the DJ's loquacity began to annoy his listeners.

Example: Not one for loquacity, Mike rarely gave answers of more than a few words.

Similar Words

Ah, where to begin? As alluded to in the Origin section, the Latin verb loqui would influence the formation of many English words that, like loquacious, all have something to do with talking or speech. These words can be identified by the presence of either loc or loqu. While there are more examples than is practical to list here, some of the best representatives include eloquent ("well said or spoken"), elocution ("the theory of proper and effective speaking"), soliloquy ("a dramatic or private monologue"), and interlocutor ("a participant in a conversation").

In Literature

From Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace:

The count sat between them and listened attentively. His favorite occupation when not playing boston, a card game he was very fond of, was that of listener, especially when he succeeded in setting two loquacious talkers at one another.

If you enjoy listening, then you probably seek out people who like to talk, right? Such is the logic of Tolstoy's Count Rostov, who aims to fulfil his love with the help of friends who are extremely voluble, or loquacious.

Mnemonic

Loquacious will say much