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You've probably come across long, tedious sections of books, plays, or musical works before, but perhaps you didn't know there was a word for them. English speakers began using the French borrowing longueur in the late 18th century. As in English, French longueurs are tedious passages, with longueur itself literally meaning "length." An early example of longueur used in an English text is from 18th-century writer Horace Walpole, who wrote in a letter, "Boswell's book is gossiping; . . . but there are woful longueurs, both about his hero and himself."
Examples of longueur in a Sentence
Arthur Krystal, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
Like that Chopin ballade, a good routine has light and shade, fast sections and longueurs.
—Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2020
This enthusiasm is a blessing for the longueurs to come, as one by one the cast spins out the inscrutable tale of the annual Jellicle Ball, when all the street cats of London convene to dance and sing.
—Daniel Drake, The New York Review of Books, 4 Jan. 2020
Sitting through the longueurs of Simon’s book shouldn’t have to be the penitential price for our enjoyment of the musical portion of the show.
—Charles McNulty, latimes.com, 23 June 2018
And even with its longueurs, the book is full of wonder.
—Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 18 Oct. 2017
Fortunately, the novel’s exciting ending helps to compensate for its longueurs.
—Sam Sacks, WSJ, 29 Sep. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Longueur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/longueur. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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