periphrasis
Americannoun
plural
periphrases-
the use of an unnecessarily long or roundabout form of expression; circumlocution.
-
an expression phrased in such fashion.
noun
-
a roundabout way of expressing something; circumlocution
-
an expression of this kind
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."
Vocabulary lists containing periphrasis
Reading: Literature - Literary Devices & Figures of Speech - High School
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Rhetoric
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Around and Around: Peri
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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.
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
Oddly, they all speak the same puckish periphrasis.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
Be it remarked that this periphrasis indicated his mother; and that the bread he alluded to is made with a species of leaven.
From Cedar Creek From the Shanty to the Settlement by Walshe, Elizabeth Hely
As that poem explains, his name could not be used in elegiac verse: hence the periphrasis in this passage.
From The Last Poems of Ovid by Akrigg, Mark Bear
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.
