CIRCUMLOCUTION

views updated Jun 11 2018

CIRCUMLOCUTION, also PERIPHRASIS. In RHETORIC, a wordy and indirect way of saying something, as when death in hospital is called negative patient care outcome. Such usage is often obscure, officious, pompous, authoritarian, and intimidating; the phrase periphrastic usage echoes the style it describes. See EUPHEMISM, JARGON, LITOTES, PLEONASM, POETIC DICTION, POETRY, REDUNDANCY, TAUTOLOGY.

Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language TOM McARTHUR

circumlocution

views updated May 23 2018

cir·cum·lo·cu·tion / ˌsərkəmˌlōˈkyoōshən/ • n. the use of many words where fewer would do, esp. in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive: his admission came after years of circumlocution | he used a number of poetic circumlocutions. DERIVATIVES: cir·cum·loc·u·to·ry / -ˈläkyəˌtôrē/ adj.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

circumlocution

views updated May 11 2018

circumlocution XV. — F. circonlocution or L. circumlocutiō, -ōn-, lit. rendering of Gr. periphrasis PERIPHRASIS; see CIRCUM-, LOCUTION.
Hence circumlocutory XVII.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD