circumlocution
[sur-kuhm-loh-kyoo-shuhn]
noun
a roundabout or indirect way of speaking; the use of more words than necessary to express an idea.
a roundabout expression.
RELATED WORDS
ambiguous, tortuous, oblique, incidental, implied, ancillary, circuitous, backhanded, vague, collateral, roundabout, circular, rambling, meandering, loose, long, lavish, dull, waffling, complicated
Nearby words
- circumfluous,
- circumfuse,
- circumgyration,
- circumincession,
- circumjacent,
- circumlunar,
- circumnavigate,
- circumnavigation,
- circumnutate,
- circumnutation
Origin of circumlocution
SYNONYMS FOR circumlocution
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for circumlocutory
circumlocution
noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
circumlocution
c.1400, from Latin circumlocutionem (nominative circumlocutio) "a speaking around" (the topic), from circum- "around" (see circum-) + locutionem (nominative locutio) "a speaking," noun of action from past participle stem of loqui "to speak" (see locution). A loan-translation of Greek periphrasis (see periphrasis).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
circumlocution
[(sur-kuhm-loh-kyooh-shuhn)]
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.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.