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View synonyms for

circumlocution

[ sur-kuhm-loh-kyoo-shuhn ]

noun

  1. a roundabout or indirect way of speaking; the use of more words than necessary to express an idea.

    Synonyms: , ,

  2. a roundabout expression.


circumlocution

/ -trɪ; ˌsɜːkəmləˈkjuːʃən; ˌsɜːkəmˈlɒkjʊtərɪ /

noun

  1. an indirect way of expressing something
  2. an indirect expression
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

circumlocution

  1. Roundabout speech or writing: “The driveway was not unlike that military training device known as an obstacle course” is a circumlocution for “The driveway resembled an obstacle course.” Circumlocution comes from Latin words meaning “speaking around.”
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Derived Forms

  • circumlocutory, adjective
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Other yvlog Forms

  • ·ܳ·dz··ٴ· [sur-k, uh, m-, lok, -y, uh, -tawr-ee, -tohr-ee], cܳ··tDz· cܳ··tDz·y adjective
  • ܲc·ܳ·dzu·ٴr adjective
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yvlog History and Origins

Origin of circumlocution1

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin ܳdzūپō- (stem of ܳdzūپō ). See circum-, locution
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Such are the distractions of “Amsterdam,” whose curlicues and circumlocutions are genuinely interesting but grow more self-conscious and indulgent with time.

From

The convoluted syntax, multiple negatives, indefinite antecedents, and masterful circumlocutions of this statement defy comprehension.

From

Bush, famously, is a gaffe specialist, the purveyor of scrambled-hash syntax, madcap circumlocutions, spoonerisms and other “Bushisms” that have haunted the internet — or as Bush would have it, internets — for decades.

From

Beneath the malapropisms and the circumlocutions, though, Palin turned out to have a shrewder feel for Republican voters than those in the press who scorned her, and who underestimated him.

From

“You’re now a beautiful, strong flower, who must protect your delicate petals and clean them regularly,” she adds, in one of the film’s more hilarious examples of motherly misunderstanding and circumlocution.

From

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