periphrastic

American  

[per-uh-fras-tik] / ˌpɛr əˈfræs tɪk /

adjective

1. circumlocutory; roundabout.

2. 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.

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periphrastic British  

/ ˌpɛrɪˈfræstɪk /

adjective

1. employing or involving periphrasis

2. 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

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Other Word Forms

• periphrastically
  adverb
• unperiphrastic
  adjective
• unperiphrastically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of periphrastic

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

Explanation

Periphrastic writing is unnecessarily convoluted, confusing, and wordy. It’s like it wants to confuse you. A periphrastic instruction manual can make it nearly impossible to figure out how your new TV works. Legal briefs and medical textbooks are two examples of written works that are almost always periphrastic. Your class president's speech might also be periphrastic, and so might the recipe for your grandma's favorite French pastry, if she adds a bit about the café she first had it in before telling you how long to bake it. The Greek root is periphrazein, "speak in a roundabout way," which combines peri-, "round about" and phrazein, "to express."

Example Sentences

But it seems to this reader, Rebecca becoming Maud also speaks to the preoccupation of this entire book: the periphrastic construction of identity itself.

From New York Times • Mar. 29, 2022

He misrepresents, distorts, bisects sentences and employs periphrastic phrases to make his points.

From Time Magazine Archive

No single individual could deliberately have set to work in order to abolish the old Latin genitive, and to replace it by the periphrastic compound de illo.

From Lectures on The Science of Language by Müller, Max

The auxiliaries of the periphrastic conjugation are almost the only verbs that have been preserved belonging to the simple primitive system.

From Basque Legends With an Essay on the Basque Language by Webster, Wentworth

Worthy sir," said Tomkins, in a much less periphrastic style, "I will obey your worship as far as the spirit will permit.

From Woodstock; or, the Cavalier by Scott, Walter, Sir