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