periphrasis
- noun
- /pəˈrɪf.rə.sɪs/
- Literature
:
perífrasis
- In her essay, the excessive periphrasis obscured the clarity of her arguments.
Examples
-
The writer's tendency to use periphrasis made his stories unnecessarily long.
-
Circularity is a virtue, periphrasis a principle, hyper-qualification a necessity.
Academic text (2000) -
His speech was full of periphrasis, making it hard to understand his main point.
Synonyms
1
9.2
Using many words to avoid saying something directly
1
7.3
Using more words than needed when speaking or writing
1
4.8
Using more language than needed in writing or speech
1
9.9
A habit of using too many words that makes people bored
1
7.5
Talking or writing with too many words makes people bored
Long, indirect speech that avoids a direct answer
A phrase that uses more words than needed
Using more words than needed so speech or writing is hard to follow
Speech or writing that uses too many words
The use of too many words that makes speech or writing long and boring
Speaking or writing with more words than needed and making the meaning unclear
Antonyms
How Wordy
Surface Forms
Morphology
periphrasis = phrase (opaque) = peri + phrasis
Although built from Greek peri- + phrasis, the components are learned-borrowing elements (not fully productive in modern English), so knowing 'phrase' alone will not let a typical B1 learner infer the specialized meaning 'circumlocution'.
Etymology
Periphrasis comes from Greek parts peri- 'around' and phrasis, the same root as the English word phrase meaning 'speech' or 'expression'. So periphrasis is like 'speaking around' something, using more words than needed or talking in a roundabout way.