English Reference

Word

garrulous

Phoneticsgar·ru·lous

US/ˈɡɛɹəɫəs/

UK/ɡˈærjʊləs/

Definition

adj. talking a lot, especially about things that are not very important. You use this to describe someone who chatters constantly.

adj. excessively talkative in a rambling or roundabout manner, especially regarding trivial matters.

Examples

“The garrulous neighbor kept me talking for an hour.”

“After a few drinks, the normally quiet professor became quite garrulous, sharing long stories about his childhood.”

“The novelist was known for his garrulous prose, often spending several pages describing a single, inconsequential room before returning to the main plot.”

Examples

simple

“The garrulous neighbor kept me talking for an hour.”

contextual

“After a few drinks, the normally quiet professor became quite garrulous, sharing long stories about his childhood.”

complex

“The novelist was known for his garrulous prose, often spending several pages describing a single, inconsequential room before returning to the main plot.”

Usage

Often used to describe people or their speech; carries a slightly negative connotation of being annoying or repetitive.

Real-World Examples

“Dau, played by Greek-Russian musician and actor Teodor Currentzis, is a garrulous, brilliant, melancholy theoretical physicist touched with genius which the audience has to take on trust (none of the various setpiece speeches about quantum mechanics are assigned to him).”
The Guardian · 9 Sept 2026
“Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s new film is a hectic, garrulous, breezily agreeable comedy of midlife emotional upheaval, unencumbered by any serious or permanent concern about any of the passion and heartache that it briefly encounters.”
The Guardian · 13 May 2026
“Senator John Kennedy, a garrulous rank-and-file Republican from Louisiana, has struck a nerve with a new book that provides an insider account of Congress and its dysfunction.”
The New York Times · 13 Jan 2026
“The heavily tattooed, garrulous Read, who has died aged 58, blended the swaggering Australian “good bloke” persona with a belief in righteous violence.”
The Guardian · 9 Oct 2013

Etymology

From Latin garrulus ("talkative") + -ous, itself from the verb garriō ("I chatter"). The word entered English as an adapted borrowing, keeping the Roman sense of someone who chatters without restraint.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Synonyms

talkativechattyloquaciousgabbyvolubletalkywordyverbose

Antonyms

reservedquietsilenttaciturnreticentLaconicuncommunicative

This entry

Level
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Rare
Updated

Scan code

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English Reference