euphuism
Americannoun
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an affected style in imitation of that of Lyly, fashionable in England about the end of the 16th century, characterized chiefly by long series of antitheses and frequent similes relating to mythological natural history, and alliteration.
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any similar ornate style of writing or speaking; high-flown, periphrastic language.
noun
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an artificial prose style of the Elizabethan period, marked by extreme use of antithesis, alliteration, and extended similes and allusions
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any stylish affectation in speech or writing, esp a rhetorical device or expression
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of euphuism
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.
"We're losing the war," he insists, adding with a flourish of Romneyesque euphuism: "The Viet Nam tail is wagging our global dog."
From Time Magazine Archive
Above all, none of the grandiosity and architectural euphuism of the American "signature" museum.
From Time Magazine Archive
As it was, prose in this country, when euphuism invaded it, could already show seven centuries of development, and, moreover, development along the broad and national lines of common or vulgar speech.
From John Lyly by Wilson, John Dover
The cry of art for art's sake is raised, and the result is extravagance, euphuism.
From John Lyly by Wilson, John Dover
And it is not fanciful I think to see in Lyly's pointed dialogue, tinged with euphuism, the forerunner of Congreve's sparkling conversation and of the epigrammatic writing of our modern English playwrights.
From John Lyly by Wilson, John Dover
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
