euphuism

American  

[yoo-fyoo-iz-uhm] / ˈyu fyuˌɪz əm /

noun

1. 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.

2. any similar ornate style of writing or speaking; high-flown, periphrastic language.

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euphuism British  

/ ˈjuːfjuːˌɪzəm /

noun

1. an artificial prose style of the Elizabethan period, marked by extreme use of antithesis, alliteration, and extended similes and allusions

2. any stylish affectation in speech or writing, esp a rhetorical device or expression

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Other Word Forms

• euphuist
  noun
• euphuistic
  adjective
• euphuistical
  adjective
• euphuistically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of euphuism

First recorded in 1590–1600; Euphu(es) + -ism

Example Sentences

"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

Then Greene returned to euphuism in Menaphon, and in Euphues, his Censure to Philautus; nor are Perimedes the Blacksmith and Tully's Love much out of the same line.

From A History of Elizabethan Literature by Saintsbury, George

The euphuism, to which his famous Lyly. romance gave its name, likewise distinguishes his mythological,172 quasi-historical,173 allegorical,174 and satirical175 comedies.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 7 "Drama" to "Dublin" by Various

There is truth in all these hypotheses, but each misses the true significance of the matter, which is that euphuism must have come, and would have come, without any question of borrowing.

From John Lyly by Wilson, John Dover