Merriam-Webster’s
Word of the Day
April 25
sententious \sen-TEN-shus\
adjective
Meaning
*1 : given to or abounding in aphoristic expression or excessive moralizing
2 : terse, aphoristic, or moralistic in expression
Example Sentence
The paper that Jed handed in to his teacher was not so much a research paper as a sententious manifesto denouncing globalization.
Did you know?
Nowadays, "sententious" is usually uncomplimentary, implying banality, oversimplification, and excessive moralizing. But that hasn't always been the case, nor is it universally so even now. The original Middle English sense of "sententious" was "full of meaning," a meaning adopted from Latin "sententiosus" (from "sententia," meaning "sentence" or "maxim"). In Modern English, too, "sententious" has sometimes referred to what is full of significance and expressed tersely. Or sometimes "sententious" simply suggests an affinity for aphorisms, as when it refers to the likes of Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard (of almanac fame), the homespun philosopher given to such statements as "early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
