circumlocutive

General Petraeus may be a reliable, educated, and stalwart military officer, but the sense one gets from his robotic circumlocutive responses to questions about his mission is that he must be hiding a great deal from the American people.

Dan Agin: Junk War and Petraeus: I, Robot 2008

If the value is 'dirt' then avils śas amce uples would read "At six years, (she) was (given) to the dirt", a circumlocutive euphemism for the burial of her urn.

Revisiting TLE 193 and 'The City of Dirt' 2008

If the value is 'dirt' then avils śas amce uples would read "At six years, (she) was (given) to the dirt", a circumlocutive euphemism for the burial of her urn.

Archive 2008-02-01 2008

Nicole felt like she was climbing a staircase in an Escher painting, fearing her expression of baffled consternation might become a permanent feature as their circumlocutive argument continued to spin dizzyingly back and forth upon itself.

Country of the Blind Brookmyre, Christopher, 1968- 1997

Nor is it indifferent to expression when people in an apparently nowise comfortable fashion give approximate circumlocutive figures, e. g., half-a-dozen, four syllables, instead of the monosyllable six; or "the bell in the dome at St. Stephen's has as many nicks as the year has days," etc.

Criminal Psychology: a manual for judges, practitioners, and students 1911

It must be assumed that these circumlocutive expressions are chosen, either because of the desire to make an assertion general, or because of the desire for some mnemonic aid.

Criminal Psychology: a manual for judges, practitioners, and students 1911