Online Google Dictionary

circumlocutions 中文解釋 wordnet sense Collocation Usage Collins Definition
Noun
/ˌsərkəmˌlōˈkyo͞oSHən/,
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circumlocutions, plural;
  1. 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
  1. (circumlocution) a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things
  2. Circumlocution (also called periphrasis, circumduction, circumvolution, periphrase, or ambage) is an ambiguous or roundabout figure of speech. ...
  3. (circumlocution) A roundabout or indirect way of speaking; the use of more words than necessary to express an idea
  4. (Circumlocution) Use of other words to describe a specific word or idea which cannot be remembered.
  5. (circumlocution) the use of indirect language or roundabout expressions; evasion in speech or writing. See also: cledonism, periphrasis.
  6. (Circumlocution) use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea (e.g., the thing you carry in rain/umbrella).
  7. (Circumlocution) A literary trick, whereby the writer who has nothing to say breaks it gently to the reader. Ambrose Bierce, The Cynic's Word Book (1906), subsequently titled The Devil's Dictionary
  8. (Circumlocution) (circa 1400) comes from Latin circumlocutionem (a loan-translation of the Greek periphrasis), meaning ”speaking around” (the topic), from circum- “around” + locutionem ”a speaking,” from the verb loqui “to speak.”
  9. (Circumlocution) speaking around a point rather than getting to it, such as S. T. Coleridge's "twice five miles of fertile ground" in "Kubla Khan." Also known as periphrasis.
  10. (circumlocution) Saying things in a very roundabout way, using many words when saying things directly would use far fewer words. It is also called periphrasis. ...
  11. (circumlocution) talking in circles - 37 misses
  12. wordy and circuitous description of unrecalled terms. For example the patient may say "have one of them up there" when trying to explain he's had brain surgery.