definitions

periphrastic

[ per-uh-fras-tik ]
/ ˌpɛr əˈfræs tɪk /
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR periphrastic ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

circumlocutory; roundabout.
Grammar. noting a construction of two or more words having the same syntactic function as an inflected word, as of Mr. Smith in the son of Mr. Smith, which is equivalent to Mr. Smith's in Mr. Smith's son.

RELATED WORDS

bombastic, chatty, diffuse, discursive, flatulent, gabby, garrulous, inflated, lengthy, long-winded, loquacious, pleonastic, prolix, rambling, redundant, rhetorical, tedious, turgid, verbose, voluble

Nearby words

peripheralism, peripheric, periphery, periphlebitis, periphrasis, periphrastic, periphyton, periplasm, periporitis, periproct, periproctitis

Origin of periphrastic

1795–1805; < Greek periphrastikós, derivative of periphrázein to use periphrasis. See peri-, phrase, -tic

Related forms

per·i·phras·ti·cal·ly, adverbun·per·i·phras·tic, adjectiveun·per·i·phras·ti·cal·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for periphrastic

British Dictionary definitions for periphrastic

periphrastic

/ (ˌpɛrɪˈfræstɪk) /

adjective

employing or involving periphrasis
expressed in two or more words rather than by an inflected form of one: used esp of a tense of a verb where the alternative element is an auxiliary verb. For example, He does go and He will go involve periphrastic tenses

Derived Forms

periphrastically, adverb
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