CIRCUMLOCUTION

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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.

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