Idiom
swallow the dictionary
Meaning
To speak using long or obscure words.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He talks like he swallowed the dictionary.”
“The professor is so formal that it sounds like he swallowed the dictionary whenever he gives a lecture.”
“During the debate, the candidate spoke with such convoluted vocabulary that the audience felt he had swallowed the dictionary just to sound more intelligent.”
Examples
simple
“He talks like he swallowed the dictionary.”
contextual
“The professor is so formal that it sounds like he swallowed the dictionary whenever he gives a lecture.”
complex
“During the debate, the candidate spoke with such convoluted vocabulary that the audience felt he had swallowed the dictionary just to sound more intelligent.”
Key words
Related idioms
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