Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To express by periphrasis or circumlocution.
- To use circumlocution.
- noun Same as
periphrasis .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rhet.) The use of more words than are necessary to express the idea; a roundabout, or indirect, way of speaking; circumlocution.
- intransitive verb To use circumlocution.
- transitive verb To express by periphrase or circumlocution.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rhetoric The use of more words than are necessary to express the idea; a roundabout, or indirect, way of speaking; circumlocution.
- verb transitive To express by periphrase or
circumlocution . - verb intransitive To use circumlocution.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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It is to be noted that the age of periphrase in verse was the age of crudities in prose.
Les Miserables 2008
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In these matters a periphrase was demanded by the decorum of life, but, as he asked another question instead, it flashed through him that the doctor must be accustomed to the impatience of a sick man's relatives.
Of Human Bondage 1919
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Morris said: ‘My translation is a real one so far, not a mere periphrase of the original as _all_ the others are.’
The Translations of Beowulf A Critical Bibliography Chauncey Brewster Tinker 1919
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It was the beginning of March, and though Du Bartas, 1that classic ancestor of the periphrase, had not yet styled the sun the Grand Duke of the Candles, his rays were none the less bright and cheerful.
I. Showing the Danger of Confiding One’s Secret to a Goat. Book VII 1917
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In these matters a periphrase was demanded by the decorum of life, but, as he asked another question instead, it flashed through him that the doctor must be accustomed to the impatience of a sick man's relatives.
Of Human Bondage 1915
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A writer who aims to be widely read to-day must perpetually halt, must perpetually hesitate at the words that arise in his mind; he must ask himself how many people will stick at this word altogether or miss the meaning it should carry; he must ransack his memory for a commonplace periphrase, an ingenious rearrangement of the familiar; he must omit or overaccentuate at every turn.
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A writer who aims to be widely read to-day must perpetually halt, must perpetually hesitate at the words that arise in his mind; he must ask himself how many people will stick at this word altogether or miss the meaning it should carry; he must ransack his memory for a commonplace periphrase, an ingenious rearrangement of the familiar; he must omit or overaccentuate at every turn.
Mankind in the Making Herbert George 1903
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Then, mindful of the presence of the children, she proceeded by means of graceful periphrase and carefully studied generalizations to a presentation of Medora's mental and spiritual attributes.
Under the Skylights Henry Blake Fuller 1893
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By some freak of fate she had for parents a plumber and a washerwoman -- "poor but very honest people," was Quentin's periphrase; their poverty of late considerably relieved by the thoughtful son-in-law, and their honesty perhaps fortified at the same time.
Our Friend the Charlatan George Gissing 1880
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Yes; it was the usual periphrase of these vulgar people.
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