A circuit or compass of words; a periphrase; the use of a number of words to express an idea, when a suitable term is not at hand, or when a speaker chooses to avoid the use of a single term, either from delicacy or respect, or with a view to soften the force of a direct expression, or for other reason.
Word of the Day: Catachrestical
The use of many words to express an idea that might be expressed by few; indirect or roundabout language; a periphrase.
Relating to, or consisting of, circumlocutions; periphrastic; circuitous.
Diffuseness Roget’s Thesaurus §573
N. diffuseness, amplification, dilating, verbosity, verbiage, cloud of words, copia verborum, flow of words, looseness, polylogy, tautology, battology, perissology|, pleonasm, exuberance, redundancy, thrice-told tale, prolixity, circumlocution, ambages, periphrase, periphrasis, roundabout phrases, episode, expletive, pennya-lining, richness
V. be diffuse, run out on, descant, expatiate, enlarge, dilate, amplify, expand, inflate, launch out, branch out, rant, maunder, prose, harp upon, dwell on, insist upon, digress, ramble, battre la campagne, beat about the bush, perorate, spin a long yarn, protract, spin out, swell out, draw out, battologize
Adj. diffuse, profuse, wordy, verbose, largiloquent|, copious, exuberant, pleonastic, lengthy, longsome, long-winded, longspun, long drawn out, spun out, protracted, prolix, prosing, maundering, circumlocutory, periphrastic, ambagious, roundabout, digressive, discursive, excursive, loose, rambling episodic, flatulent, frothy
Adv. diffusely, at large, in extenso, about it and about it
No Bible verses found for "circumlocution".