periphrasis
noun
the use of an unnecessarily long or roundabout form of expression; circumlocution.
periphrase
-
a variation of
periphrasis.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In writing of his version of the Odyssey to Ellis, Morris said: ‘My translation is a real one so far, not a mere periphrase of the original as all the others are.’
From The Translations of Beowulf A Critical Bibliography by Chauncey Brewster Tinker
Leaving out the delicate and difficult periphrase by which her mother's shame would have to be explained to an innocent school-girl—what right could he have assumed to tell it?
From A Ward of the Golden Gate by Bret Harte
The sun, which Dubartas, that classic ancestor of periphrase, had not yet dubbed the "Grand-duke of Candles," was none the less radiant and joyous on that account.
From Notre-Dame De Paris by Isabel Florence Hapgood
And also tell me frankly, without periphrase, what the Musik- Verein wishes and expects from the patronage of the Grand Duke of Weimar?—One ought not to shoot about at random with Royal Highnesses!
From Letters of Franz Liszt -- Volume 2 from Rome to the End by Constance Bache
So far as consistent with due precision, popular terms have been used in description, but not when such usage involved tedious periphrase.
From Handbook of the Trees of New England by Lorin Low Dame
