- Today's Word
Virtuoso
ver-choo-OH-soh
Definition
- (noun) A person highly skilled in a particular art, especially music.
Example
The young pianist was hailed as a virtuoso after her breathtaking performance.
Fun Fact
Originating from Italian, “virtuoso” was once a title of honor for someone who excelled in virtù, or virtue and excellence. Today, it refers mostly to musicians, artists, or anyone with elite mastery—think Mozart, Yo-Yo Ma, or Picasso. It’s also used beyond the arts, like a chess virtuoso or a tech virtuoso in Silicon Valley.
(adjective) Prone to speaking at excessive length about trivial or loosely connected subjects; tiresomely talkative.
The garrulous professor spent so long on his opening anecdote that he never actually reached the lecture — and somehow, nobody minded.
Garrulous derives from the Latin garrulus, meaning “talkative” or “chattering,” rooted in garrire — “to chatter” or “to babble.” The same root gives us gargle, both words sharing the sense of sound produced loosely and without great purpose. It entered English in the 17th century, used to describe the kind of talker who fills every silence not because they have something to say but because silence itself is intolerable to them.