vol·u·ble

(vŏl′yə-bəl)

adj.

1. Marked by a ready flow of speech; fluent.

a. Turning easily on an axis; rotating.

b. Botany Twining or twisting: a voluble vine.

[Middle English, moving easily, from Old French, from Latin volūbilis, revolving, fluent, from volvere, to roll; see wel- in Indo-European roots.]

vol′u·bil′i·ty, vol′u·ble·ness n.

vol′u·bly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

volubility - the quality of being facile in speech and writing

articulateness, fluency

communicativeness - the trait of being communicative

Translations

bagou

loquacit...

volubility

[ˌvɒljʊˈbɪlɪtɪ] N → locuacidad f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

volubility

n → Redseligkeit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

His volubility had left him at last, and he sank down wearily on my sofa.

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Hem's theory, in so far as it professes to be an adequate explanation of "mysterious disappearances," is open to many obvious objections; to fewer as he states it himself in the "spacious volubility" of his book.

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Highcamp hung with languid but unaffected interest upon the warm and impetuous volubility of her left-hand neighbor, Victor Lebrun.

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He greeted Philip with enthusiasm, and with his usual volubility told him that he had come to live in London, Ruth Chalice was a hussy, he had taken a studio, Paris was played out, he had a commission for a portrait, and they'd better dine together and have a good old talk.

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Could there have been anything like her present disjointed volubility in the fascinations that had captivated him?

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And then he bade them get the fire lit, and stalked out upon his crutch, with his hand on my shoulder, leaving them in a disarray, and silenced by his volubility rather than convinced.

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Had Lydia and her mother known the substance of her conference with her father, their indignation would hardly have found expression in their united volubility. In Lydia's imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised ever possibility of earthly happiness.

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Our captain, however, rather distrusted his ability in this respect, and refused to recognize his claim to the character he assumed; but our gentleman was determined to play his part, for, by dint of much scrambling, he succeeded in getting into the weather-quarter boat, where he steadied himself by holding on to a shroud, and then commenced issuing his commands with amazing volubility and very peculiar gestures.

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He ceased brokenly, alarmed by his own volubility and by Genevieve's look of alarm.

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'But I didn't blab it; did I, Fagin?' demanded Tom, pouring question upon question with great volubility.

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Cluppins, with great volubility; 'why there ain't the faintest shade of an excuse for his behaviour!

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But Miss Bates soon came"Very happy and obliged"but Emma's conscience told her that there was not the same cheerful volubility as beforeless ease of look and manner.

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