circumlocution

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“
I was a rich heiress--I had, I believe, a hundred thousand pounds, or more, and twice as many caprices: I was handsome and witty--or, to speak with that kind of circumlocution which is called humility, the world, the partial world, thought me a beauty and a bel-esprit.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.
  2. noun Evasion in speech or writing.
  3. noun A roundabout expression.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • As far as I could tell from the circumlocution, buzzwords, failed sarcasm, and anemic attempts at levity, he has pretty much disapproved of everything George Bush and every conservative in both houses of Congress has said or done since Clinton's impeachment. —  Knowledge is Power
  • McCain, infuriated, replied, “At least I don†™ t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you†¦ †followed by a name that I can only describe in print using an elaborate circumlocution, as follows: You know those Southwest Airlines commercials that end with the slogan, “You are now free to move about the country? †Well, sometimes they run out of time, accidentally cutting off the second syllable of country. —  Yale Daily News: Latest Issue
  • Lojban can express each and every single one of these meanings without ambiguity and without circumlocution or overhead. —  Planet Ubuntu
  • Not preferring circumlocution, but in an economy of words A.W. speaks pointedly from the grave to some of the pragmatic moorings of our day. —  CAMPONTHIS
  • When the time for their birth drew near, the Majesty of Râ, lord of Sakhîbû, gave orders to Isis, Nephthys, Maskhonît, Hiquît and Khnûmû: "Come, make haste and run to deliver Budîtdidît of these three children which she carries in her womb to fulfil that beneficent office in this whole earth, and they will build you temples, they will furnish your altars with offerings, they will supply your tables with libations, and they will increase your mortmain possessions This kind of circumlocution is employed on several occasions in the old texts to designate royalty. —  History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 2 (of 12)
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English circumlocucioun, from Latin circumlocūtiō, circumlocūtiōn-, from circumlocūtus, past participle of circumloquī : circum-, circum- + loquī, to speak; see tolkw- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = Old French circonloquution, French circonlocution = Provencal circumlocutio = Spanish circunlocucion = Portuguese circumlocução = Italian circonlocuzione, from Latin circumlocutio(n-) (transitive Greek περίφρασις, periphrasis), from (Late Latin) circumloqui, speak roundabout, use circumlocution, from circum, around, + loqui, speak: see locution.
 

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/sərkəmləˈkjuʃən/
by American Heritage

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