英语词汇“circumlocution”的英英意思、用法、释义、翻译、读音、例句、短语、词组-英语词典

circumlocution

/ˌsəːkəmləˈkjuːʃ(ə)n

noun [mass noun]

The use of many words where fewer would do, especially in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive: his admission came after years of circumlocution [count noun]: he used a number of poetic circumlocutions...

Large bureaucracies seem to inherently foster a culture that favours circumlocution, jargon and euphemism.
A certain kind of Briton prefers circumlocution and euphemism for even everyday speech: ‘I wonder if I could trouble you for a glass of water?’
In order to refer to that activity, it is necessary to engage in circumlocution or periphrasis.

Synonyms

periphrasis, circuitousness, indirectness;

tautology, repetition, repetitiveness, repetitiousness, diffuseness, discursiveness, long-windedness, verbosity, wordiness, prolixity, verbiage, redundancy, superfluity;

euphemism

informal beating about the bush

rare pleonasm, perissology

Derivatives

circumlocutional

adjective

circumlocutionary

adjective

circumlocutionist

noun

Origin

Late Middle English: from Latin circumlocutio(n-) (translating Greek periphrasis), from circum 'around' + locutio(n-) from loqui 'speak'.