a mild, indirect, or vague expression substituted for an offensive or unpleasant one, e.g. pass away for die
the substitution of such expressions to avoid offence or embarrassment
Euphemism is the vehicle of language's great escape, rendering the supposedly unpalatable fit for mass consumption. As creative in its efforts to avoid the unacceptable as it is innately deceitful, euphemism can be found across the linguistic spectrum, whether in the rhetorical flourishes of poetic invention or as the underpinning of much sexual and anatomical slang — Jonathon Green
euphemistic /-ʹmistik/ adj
euphemistically /-ʹmistikli/ adv
[Greek euphēmismos from euphēmos auspicious, sounding good, from eu- + phēmē speech, from phanai to say, speak]