volubile

English

Alternative forms

• volubilate

Etymology

From Middle French volubile, from Latin volūbilis (“rolling”), from volvō (“I roll”). Doublet of voluble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɒljʊbaɪl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Adjective

volubile (comparative more volubile, superlative most volubile)

1. (chiefly botany) Turning or whirling; winding.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     […] or this less volubil earth,
     By shorter flight to th' east,
     had left him there
     Arraying with reflected purple and gold
     The clouds that on his western throne attend.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “volubile”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin volūbilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔ.ly.bil/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

volubile (plural volubiles)

1. talkative (talking a great deal with ease, and quickly changing subjects)

   Near-synonyms: disert, loquace, bavard, prolixe

2. inconstant, changeable, variable

Derived terms

• volubilement
• volubilité

Further reading

• “volubile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Interlingua

Adjective

volubile (comparative plus volubile, superlative le plus volubile)

1. voluble

Italian

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Latin volūbilis (“turning”).

Adjective

volubile (plural volubili)

1. inconstant, changeable, variable
2. shifty
3. fickle, moody

Related terms

• volubilità
• volubilmente

Latin

Adjective

volūbile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of volūbilis

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin volūbilis.

Adjective

volubile m or f (plural volubiles)

1. inconstant, variable; changeable
2. movable; moving

Descendants

• French: volubile

References

• volubile on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)