periphrasis

American  

[puh-rif-ruh-sis] / pəˈrɪf rə sɪs /

Also periphrase

noun

• periphrases
  plural

1. the use of an unnecessarily long or roundabout form of expression; circumlocution.

2. an expression phrased in such fashion.

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periphrasis British  

/ pəˈrɪfrəsɪs /

noun

1. a roundabout way of expressing something; circumlocution

2. an expression of this kind

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• periphrases
  plural

Etymology

Origin of periphrasis

1525–35; < Latin < Greek períphrasis. See peri-, phrase, -sis

Explanation

When you choose a longer or less straightforward way of saying something, you use periphrasis. One example of periphrasis is describing someone as "more intelligent" instead of "smarter." Choosing a two-word description instead of the one-word equivalent (like "more lengthy" rather than "longer") is one way to use periphrasis. This also happens when you use a longer phrase, like "give a presentation," instead of a single word that conveys the same meaning, "present." Using many words to describe something instead of a simple noun is also periphrasis: "the mother of my father," for example, instead of "grandmother." The Greek root, periphrazein, means "speak in a roundabout way."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

periphrasis periphrases

Prince Bumpo, the heir to the throne, is a mooncalf who mistakes fairy tales for real life, speaks in Elizabethan periphrasis and murmurs to himself: “If only I were a white prince!”

From New York Times ● Sep. 9, 2020

This periphrasis so fascinated Charles W. Morton, now the associate editor of the Atlantic, that he began collecting examples of "Elongated Yellow Fruit" writing.

From Time Magazine Archive

Oddly, they all speak the same puckish periphrasis.

From Time Magazine Archive

Throughout the history of the language we note an increasing tendency to periphrasis; but there was no great advance towards precision before demotic.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 1 "Edwardes" to "Ehrenbreitstein" by Various

All transitive verbs involve the notion of cause as activity, and would have to be replaced by some cumbrous periphrasis before this notion could be eliminated.

From Our Knowledge of the External World as a Field for Scientific Method in Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

Sun and moon and so on are spoken of by their natural unmistakable names, or in equally unmistakable poetical periphrases, as in riddles. 

From Modern Mythology by Andrew Lang

The piece was written in the style of a tragic serial story: abstract phrases, bureaucratic epithets, academic periphrases.

From Jean Christophe: in Paris The Market-Place, Antoinette, the House by Gilbert Cannan

This will sometimes require the use of unfamiliar periphrases: the words “music” and “rites” may be given as “the rhythm of life” and “conformity to the ideology.”

From The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen: An Exposition of the San Min Chu I by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger

These sagas are not to be so forgotten or disproved as to take away from poetry old periphrases which great skalds have been pleased with.

From The Younger Edda Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Rasmus Björn Anderson

One of the most frequent periphrases for a wedding, is the expression “joyful event.”

From Village Life in China A Study in Sociology by Arthur H. Smith

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