circumlocution

American  

[sur-kuhm-loh-kyoo-shuhn] / ˌsɜr kəm loʊˈkyu ʃən /

noun

1. a roundabout or indirect way of speaking; the use of more words than necessary to express an idea.

   Synonyms:

   prolixity , verbosity , rambling

2. a roundabout expression.

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circumlocution British  

/ -trɪ, ˌsɜːkəmləˈkjuːʃən, ˌsɜːkəmˈlɒkjʊtərɪ /

noun

1. an indirect way of expressing something

2. an indirect expression

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circumlocution Cultural  

1. Roundabout speech or writing: “The driveway was not unlike that military training device known as an obstacle course” is a circumlocution for “The driveway resembled an obstacle course.” Circumlocution comes from Latin words meaning “speaking around.”

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Other Word Forms

• circumlocutional adjective
• circumlocutionary adjective
• circumlocutory adjective
• uncircumlocutory adjective

Etymology

Origin of circumlocution

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin circumlocūtiōn- (stem of circumlocūtiō ). See circum-, locution

Example Sentences

Such are the distractions of “Amsterdam,” whose curlicues and circumlocutions are genuinely interesting but grow more self-conscious and indulgent with time.

From Washington Post

Bush, famously, is a gaffe specialist, the purveyor of scrambled-hash syntax, madcap circumlocutions, spoonerisms and other “Bushisms” that have haunted the internet — or as Bush would have it, internets — for decades.

From New York Times

Beneath the malapropisms and the circumlocutions, though, Palin turned out to have a shrewder feel for Republican voters than those in the press who scorned her, and who underestimated him.

From New York Times

“You’re now a beautiful, strong flower, who must protect your delicate petals and clean them regularly,” she adds, in one of the film’s more hilarious examples of motherly misunderstanding and circumlocution.

From Washington Post

When a wife reads aloud from a book “written with a sizable number of circumlocutions, which were somehow addictive,” she could be describing Nopca’s stories, which have the intimate, meandering quality of neighborhood gossip.

From New York Times