Definition of "sesquipedalian" []

• A long word. (noun)
• Given to or characterized by the use of long words. (adjective)
• Long and ponderous; polysyllabic. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""Clarence Thomas, please spell the word sesquipedalian and then use it in a form of a question.""
• "Let his obituary read, "Douglas Martin, a newspaperman who once got the word" sesquipedalian "onto the front page of the New York Times ....""
• "From the time the moderator gives the word, let's say it's "sesquipedalian," until your progeny very slowly spells it correctly, doesn't it seem a lifetime?"