circumlocution

[sur-kuhm-loh-kyoo-shuhn]

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.

circumlocution

/ -trɪ, ˌsɜːkəmləˈkjuːʃən, ˌsɜːkəmˈlɒkjʊtərɪ /

noun

1. an indirect way of expressing something

2. an indirect expression

circumlocution

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.”

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of circumlocution¹

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

Example Sentences

Their circumlocutions were as entrancing as their ability to find the most precisely ironic words for difficult-to-name realities.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

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

Read more on Washington Post

The convoluted syntax, multiple negatives, indefinite antecedents, and masterful circumlocutions of this statement defy comprehension.

Read more on Literature

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.

Read more on 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.

Read more on New York Times