What is a word to describe someone with a large vocabulary?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 25 Mar 2006 07:56 PST

A legitimate (but little used) definition of 'copious' is given (by
the Oxford English Dictionary, no less) as:


copious -- Of a language: Having a large vocabulary


Does that do the trick?

I'm not sure there is precisely such a word.

You may have to rely on something like "loquacious" which suggests the
power of expressing oneself articulately and fluently.

I hope this helps.

Have a good day.

Loquacious and verbacious mean talking a lot, "gabby", not necessarily
being articulate or using a large vocabulary.

Maybe "grandiloquent", though it is still just a highfallutin' form of "gabby":
"# lofty in style; "he engages in so much tall talk, one never really
realizes what he is saying"
# puffed up with vanity; "a grandiloquent and boastful manner";
"overblown oratory"; "a pompous speech"; "pseudo-scientific
gobbledygook and pontifical hooey"- Newsweek"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

I thought maybe that I had found it in a reverse dictionary with
"macroverbumsciolist", but it sounds more like a description of me:

"macroverbumsciolist
 nonce word 1) a person who is ignorant of large words 
 2) a person who pretends to know a word, then secretly refers to a dictionary"


What about a "polylogosoph" or "polylogosopher":  A person wise of many words.

I just made that up (and have already disqualified myself above).  ;-)

Doesn't the answer in the clarification really imply the phrase "a
copious language has a large vocabulary"? - vocabulary being the sum
or stock of words in a language...

You could say "He has a copious vocabulary" or "he is a copious
talker" but you couldn't really sensibly say "He is copious" - could
you?

You could go the route of "erudite" or some synonym for learned...

Doesn't the answer in the clarification really imply the phrase "a
copious language has a large vocabulary"? - vocabulary being the sum
or stock of words in a language...

You could say "He has a copious vocabulary" or "he is a copious
talker" but you couldn't really sensibly say "He is copious" - could
you?

If I knew the answer, I would ask if you meant a large speaking
vocabulary or a large receptive, or understanding, vocabulary.

If a metaphor will do, "lexicon" might work; but, then, a "walking
lexicon" is just a fancy way of saying a "walking dictionary."

Search strategy:
define:vocabulary
define:lexicon

megagaltastic
adj. (mega - gall'-tastik)
characterized by an extensive vocabulary.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=megagaltastic

Someone besides you (unless you are named Gal) also noticed this
missing word in the English language. They confirmed with Merriam
Webster and The Oxford English Dictionary that no such word existed
and asked what the procedure was to create a word. So the word he has
created is megagaltastic (naming it after himself, "Gal").

His story is here:
http://aguynamedgal.blogspot.com/2005/03/megagaltastic.html

and some hilarious commentary on the subject by Ze Frank (contains PG-13 language):
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/10/101906.html