discursiveness
Tendency to digress
Discursiveness is the quality of wandering from topic to topic rather than staying focused.
A discursive essay or speaker meanders through loosely connected ideas, which can feel either pleasantly exploratory or frustratingly unfocused: The book's discursiveness makes it hard to summarize.
The word carries a slight negative charge—implying excess where concision might serve better.
Line touching curve once
- asideBrief theatrical digression
- diversionRedirection of attention
- departureAct of going away
- excursionBrief recreational trip
deviation · detour · parenthesis · sidetrack · off-topic · non sequitur · irrelevance · deflection
Excessive use of language
- verbosityUnnecessary word excess
- circumlocutionIndirect, wordy expression
- long-windednessTedious verbal excess
- verbiageOverabundance of language
redundancy · diffuseness · expansiveness · overelaboration · pleonasm · tautology · superfluity · repetitiveness
Excessive, tedious talking
- volubilityExcessive verbal output
- logorrheaCompulsive excessive wordiness
- talkativenessInclination to speak extensively
- effusivenessUnrestrained emotional expression
loquaciousness · chattering · prattling · babbling · maundering · jabbering · rambling · glibness
Indirect, winding path
- windingCurving repeatedly, sinuous
- labyrinthineExtremely complex and winding
- indirectNot straight or immediate
- convolutedExcessively complex or twisted
tortuous · sinuous · serpentine · roundabout · twisting · unfocused · disjointed · incoherent
Examining parts methodically
- argumentativeInclined to dispute
- dialecticalRelating to logical debate
- expositoryServing to explain
- logicalBased on valid reasoning
systematic · philosophical · rational · deliberative · exegetical · interpretive · explicative · propositional
tangent
Line touching curve once
excursion · deviation · detour · parenthesis · sidetrack · off-topic · non sequitur · irrelevance · deflection · interjection
wordiness
Excessive use of language
- verbosityUnnecessary word excess
- circumlocutionIndirect, wordy expression
- long-windednessTedious verbal excess
verbiage · redundancy · diffuseness · expansiveness · overelaboration · pleonasm · tautology · superfluity · repetitiveness · windiness
garrulity
Excessive, tedious talking
- volubilityExcessive verbal output
- logorrheaCompulsive excessive wordiness
- talkativenessInclination to speak extensively
effusiveness · loquaciousness · chattering · prattling · babbling · maundering · jabbering · rambling · glibness
circuitous
Indirect, winding path
- windingCurving repeatedly, sinuous
- labyrinthineExtremely complex and winding
- indirectNot straight or immediate
convoluted · tortuous · sinuous · serpentine · roundabout · twisting · unfocused · disjointed · incoherent · desultory
analytical
Examining parts methodically
- argumentativeInclined to dispute
- dialecticalRelating to logical debate
- expositoryServing to explain
logical · systematic · philosophical · rational · deliberative · exegetical · interpretive · explicative · propositional
- talkativenesstalkativeness, verbosity, wordiness, garrulity, loquacity
discursivenessconciseness
Quality of being brief
brevity · concision · terseness · succinctness · pithiness
discursivenessdirectness
Quality of being straightforward
intuitiveness · focus · linearity · single-mindedness · immediacy