periphrastic
[ per-uh-fras-tik ]
/ ˌpɛr əˈfræs tɪk /
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
- peripheric,
- periphery,
- periphlebitis,
- periphrase,
- periphrasis,
- periphyton,
- periplasm,
- periporitis,
- periproct,
- periproctitis
Origin of periphrastic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web 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
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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periphrastic
1805, from French périphrastique and directly from Greek periphrastikos, from periphrazein (see periphrasis). Related: Periphrastical (1630s).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper