verbalist means one who possesses verbal or oratorical skill. It carries an Arena rating of 1510, earned across 124 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, verbalist ranks #3,518 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #4,553 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #6,102 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #6,242 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
verbalist is pronounced /ˈvɜːbəlɪst/.
Why “verbalist” is a great word
VERBALIST — [Noun] A person skilled in the use of words, especially one who emphasizes the wording or form of expression over the underlying substance or meaning. From verbal (relating to words) + -ist (agent suffix). First recorded in use circa 1606–1609. Unlike an orator, who wields words to move a crowd, or a semanticist, who plumbs them for meaning, the verbalist is an aesthete of the arrangement, a jeweler who polishes the setting while the stone inside may be paste. It is the diplomat whose evasion is a sonnet, the lawyer who wins on a technicality of phrasing, the poet for whom the music of a line eclipses any need for sense—a devotion to the vessel that renders the voyage irrelevant.
Etymology
From verbal + -ist.
noun
- One who possesses verbal or oratorical skill.
- One who favours words or the wording of something over its meaning or the idea behind it.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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