Only show
results for:

Encyclopedia entries related to "Euphemism"

EUPHEMISM
Book article from: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language EUPHEMISM. In RHETORIC , (the use of) a mild...Arbiters of usage are generally severe on euphemism. Ronald Ridout and Clifford Witting...claim that people ‘commit a euphemism’ when trying to hide something...
Metaphors and Euphemisms
Encyclopedia entry from: Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying ...horror, through the use of metaphor and euphemism when describing the dead. In daily conversations...kicking the bucket." On the other hand, euphemism has a long tradition of use when dealing...1989), William Lutz distinguishes euphemism, which covers the unpleasant, from...
DOUBLESPEAK
Book article from: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language ...limits thought. Doublespeak can be discussed in terms of euphemism, bureaucratese, JARGON , and inflated language. In 1984...world it would no longer use the word killing but instead the euphemism unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life . When asked why...
Yezidis
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology ...them is the peacock, a symbol of the seven angels who cooperated in the creation of the world. The peacock angel is their euphemism for evil. They believe evil is a part of the divinity, along with good. Thus they are more properly seen as dualists rather...
Eichmann, Adolf: Israeli Capture
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security ...ghettos. In 1942, he organized the Wansee Conference, a meeting of Nazi officials to devise the "Final Solution," the Nazi euphemism for the extermination of European Jews. Eichmann supervised the creation and operation of death camps, and set Nazi policy...
Arms Control and Arms Race
Encyclopedia entry from: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences ...international politics involving the reduction or elimination of weapons or the tensions that lead to their use, and even as a euphemism for militarily enforced disarmament, like that imposed on Iraq by the United Nations in the 1990s. But such phenomena often...
Layoffs, Downsizing, and Outsourcing
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of Small Business ...labor if contracts don't renew or the business does not pick up. In the last decade or so the layoff itself has become a euphemism for force reduction. It is a telling sign of the times that DOL began collecting data on layoffs in April 1995 for the first...
SLANGUAGE
Book article from: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language ...Slanguage of Sex: A Dictionary of Modern Sexual Terms (1984), Brigid McConville and John Shearlaw define a slanguage as ‘an underground language’ of simile, metaphor, euphemism, and innuendo. Compare ARGOT .
DIMINUTIVE
Book article from: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language ...affection, dismissal, etc.: Will , Willie , Willy (and, in baby talk, the double diminutive Willikins) and Bill , Billy as short forms of William , and willie as a euphemism for the penis. See CLIPPING , L-SOUNDS , SCOTS , SEXISM .
GOWERS, (Sir) Ernest (Arthur)
Book article from: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language ...sensible and sensitive authority on usage and style led to his being invited to revise FOWLER'S DICTIONARY OF MODERN ENGLISH USAGE (2nd edition, 1965). See EFFECTIVE WRITING , EUPHEMISM , HOUSE STYLE , PUN , USAGE GUIDANCE AND CRITICISM .

Dictionary entries related to "Euphemism"

euphemism
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology euphemism XVII. — Gr. euphēmismós , f. euphēmízein speak fair, f. eúphēmos fair of speech, f. EU- + phḗmḗ speaking; see FAME , -ISM . So euphemistic XIX.
bendith y mamau
Book article from: A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology bendith y mamau [W., mothers' blessings]. A Glamorganshire euphemism for the fairies, known more often in Wales as tylwyth teg . Euphemism is preferred to avoid kidnapping or fairy mischief. Cf. cwn bendith y mamau [W...
Otac na Sluzbenom Putu
Dictionary entry from: International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers ...attacked the Soviet leader, once an ally of Yugoslavia. (In the sardonic title of the film, "away on business" is the euphemism used in the former Yugoslavia for such political prisoners.) However, through Malik we see that members of his family and...
terminate
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English ...agent): he was terminated by persons unknown. ∎  archaic form the physical end or extremity of (an area). PHRASES: terminate someone with extreme prejudice murder or assassinate someone (used as a euphemism).
tarnation
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English tar·na·tion / tärˈnā sh ən / • n. & interj. used as a euphemism for “damnation.”
sugar
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English ...endearment or an affectionate form of address: what's wrong, sugar? ∎  [as interj. ] inf. used as a euphemism for “shit.” ∎  inf. a psychoactive drug in the form of white powder, esp. heroin...
ruddy
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English ...complexion. ∎  having a reddish color: the ruddy evening light. 2. Brit., inf., dated used as a euphemism for “bloody.” • v. ( -dies , -died ) [ tr. ] make ruddy in color: a red flash ruddied...
plumbing
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English ...building. ∎  the work of installing and maintaining such a system. ∎  inf. used as a humorous euphemism for the excretory tracts and urinary system: I'd never discuss my plumbing with ladies.
gosh
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English gosh / gä sh / • interj. inf. used to express surprise or give emphasis: gosh, we envy you. ∎  used as a euphemism for “God”: a gosh-awful team.
blaze
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English ...broke up in a blaze of publicity . 2. ( blazes ) inf. used in various expressions of anger, bewilderment, or surprise as a euphemism for “hell”: what in blue blazes are you all talking about? • v. [ intr. ] 1. burn fiercely...

Thesaurus entries related to "Euphemism"

euphemism
Book article from: The Oxford American Writers Thesaurus euphemism • noun  'influential person' is the local euphemism for underworld don synonyms : polite term, indirect term, circumlocution, substitute, alternative, understatement, genteelism.
sin
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Thesaurus of Current English ...speaking to the media was an indiscretion for which she was chastised). In recent years, however, indiscretion has become a euphemism for such sins as adultery, as if to excuse such behavior by attributing it to a momentary lapse of judgment (his indiscretions...
lie
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Thesaurus of Current English ...sealing them in the envelope, but that you didn't actually get them to the post office. To fib is to tell a falsehood about something unimportant; it is often used as a euphemism for lie (a child who fibs about eating his vegetables).
synonym
Book article from: The Oxford American Writers Thesaurus synonym • noun  'harsh' may be used as synonym for 'oppressive' synonyms : alternate, substitute, alternative, equivalent, euphemism.
body
Book article from: The Oxford American Writers Thesaurus ...body (the battlefield was littered with corpses). A funeral director is likely to prefer the term remains , which is a euphemism for the body of the deceased (he had his wife's remains shipped home for burial), or cremains , if the body has been...
understatement
Book article from: The Oxford American Writers Thesaurus ...x2022; noun  calling this event unfortunate is a gross understatement synonyms : minimization, trivialization, euphemism; understatedness, restraint, reserve, underplaying, underemphasis; subtlety, delicacy; technical litotes, meiosis...
dastardly
Book article from: The Oxford American Writers Thesaurus ...reserved for “one who avoids all personal risk,” modern American writers tend to use it as a printable euphemism for the more widely objectionable epithet—e.g.: “Samuel Ramey is the dastard of the piece, the...
challenge
Book article from: The Oxford American Writers Thesaurus ...originally serious intention, the term rapidly became stalled by uses whose intention was to make fun of the attempts at euphemism and whose tone was usually clearly ironic: examples include cerebrally challenged , follicularly challenged , etc.

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

Dull gray euphemism.(the bent pin)(West Virginia primary)
Magazine article from: National Review; 6/16/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...class--"suburban" was the preferred euphemism. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Until recently...blue-collar," so that longstanding euphemism will fade away. Not that it was much of a euphemism, but at least it avoided the word "class...
Euphemism, dysphemism, and the shaping of tax policy.
Magazine article from: Tax Executive; 7/1/1993; ; 700+ words ; ...Today, I want to talk about the euphemism, and its mirror image, the dysphemism. We all know what a euphemism is - that's when you describe your...Well, dysphemism is the obverse of euphemism. It is a term that paints a harsher...
Words: euphemism, n.
Newspaper article from: The Independent - London; 8/20/1998; ; 313 words ; ONCE SUCH a pleasant word, euphemism has become of late almost a term of...York Times awarded its Grand Prize for Euphemism to the CIA for referring to an assassination...committee" - more obfuscation than euphemism, I would say.
Center for Euphemism Control discovers words change nothingOne
Newspaper article from: Courier-News (Elgin, IL); 6/21/1999; 700+ words ; Center for Euphemism Control discovers words change nothing One character...no time to mentally convert the latest silly euphemism for anything into the mental equivalent of whatever that euphemism replaced. The whole idea of politically correcting...
FROM EUPHEMISM TO BLOODY LIES.
Magazine article from: The American Enterprise; 5/1/1999; ; 700+ words ; ...merging." Political correctness is the euphemism made instinctive. It is the systematic...accounts for today's universality of euphemism? T. S. Eliot understated the short...The longer answer explaining today's euphemism boom originates in some disturbing linguistic...
Center for Euphemism Control discovers words change nothing
Newspaper article from: Courier News (Elgin, IL); 7/24/2005; ; 700+ words ; ...to mentally convert the latest silly euphemism for anything into the mental equivalent of whatever that euphemism replaced. The whole idea of politically...Reporters are trained to be precise and euphemism-averse. Joe Tompkins didn't "pass...
Education Viewpoint: Euphemism, ambiguity and fudge
Newspaper article from: The Independent - London; 9/15/1994; ; 700+ words ; ...extrasensory perception. First - E for euphemism. We live in an age in which one can...referred to as less able. Sometimes, the euphemism verges, ludicrously, on the politically...gender" rather than "sex" (more euphemism?), the "female pupils" and "male...
'Comprehensive immigration reform euphemism for amnesty'.
News Wire article from: PTI - The Press Trust of India Ltd.; 5/6/2007; 678 words ; 'Comprehensive immigration reform euphemism for amnesty' Washington, May 6 (PTI...immigration reform, terming it an "euphemism" for amnesty and said the assimilation...say a comprehensive reform, that's a euphemism for amnesty....I think amnesty is...
The tiny minority; Bagehot.(Bagehot: On political euphemism)
Magazine article from: The Economist (US); 3/21/2009; 700+ words ; ...and dangers of a favourite political euphemism THERE are some sound arguments against...different contexts, but the aim of the euphemism is the same: to minimise, trivialise...sometimes the calculation behind the euphemism involves bald electoral costs rather...
Malveaux At Large: When Cloth Is A Euphemism For Drugs
Newspaper article from: Sun Reporter, The; 2/2/1994; ; 700+ words ; ...1994 Malveaux At Large: When Cloth Is A Euphemism For Drugs. By Julianne Malveaux There...what?! Since when did cloth become a euphemism for drugs? And why aren't these people...and do not do? While cloth is not a euphemism for drugs, the DEA may be a codeword...