English Explanatory Dictionary

circumlocution

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A roundabout or indirect way of speaking; thus
  2. A roundabout or indirect way of speaking; thus:
  3. Unnecessary use of extra words to express an idea, such as a pleonastic phrase (sometimes driven by an attempt at emphatic clarity) or a wordy substitution (the latter driven by euphemistic intent, pedagogic intent, or sometimes loquaciousness alone).
  4. Necessary use of a phrase to circumvent either a vocabulary fault (of speaker or listener) or a lexical gap, either monolingually or in translation.
  5. An instance of such usage; a roundabout expression, whether an inadvisable one or a necessary one.

Pronunciation

/ˌsɜːkəmləˈkjuːʃən/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-circumlocution.wav /ˌsɝkəmləˈkjuʃən/

Word forms

circumlocution circumlocutions

Etymology

From Latin circumlocūtiō (“the act of speaking around; circumlocution, periphrasis”). By surface analysis, circum- (“around”) + locution (“talk”), thus "getting around (a problem) in speaking or writing". Probably a calque of Ancient Greek περίφρασις (períphrasis, “periphrasis”).

Synonyms

ambages periphrasis

Related words

pleonasm beat around the bush go around the houses euphemism mince words mince matters equivocation evasive prevarication hedge waffle

Derived words

circumlocutional circumlocutionary circumlocutionist circumlocutionize circumlocution office circumlocutious circumlocutory

Translations

Bulgarian: увъртане Bulgarian: заобикалки Finnish: kiertely Finnish: jaarittelu Finnish: pyörittely French: périphrase French: circonlocution German: Umschweife Greek: περίφραση Greek: πολυλογία Hungarian: köntörfalazás Hungarian: kertelés Italian: giro di parole Italian: perifrasi Norwegian: omsvøp Persian: اطناب Persian: درازگویی Polish: oględna wypowiedź Portuguese: circunlocução Portuguese: circunlóquio Spanish: circunlocución Spanish: rodeos Spanish: ambages Spanish: circunloquio Swedish: omsvep Vietnamese: giải ngữ Vietnamese: ngữ giải thích
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on C Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary